if 


THE   NEW-CENTURY   BIBLE 

SAMUEL 


OXFORD 

HOKACE    HART,    PRINTER  TO  THE    UNIVERSITY 


I 


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WfV\ 


^u,j±Ui&M 


General  Editor  ; 
Principal  Walter  F.  Adeney,  M.A.,  D.D. 


^dittuef 


INTRODUCTION 

REVISED  VERSION   WITH    NOTES 

INDEX   AND    MAPS 


EDITED    BY   THE 


REV.  A.  R.  S.  KENNEDY,  M.A.,   D.D. 

PROFESSOR  OF  HEBREW  AND  SEMITIC  LANGUAGES   IN  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF  EDINBURGH 


NEW  YORK:  HENRY  FROWDE 

OXFORD   UNIVERSITY   PRESS,   AMERICAN   BRANCH 

EDINBURGH  :  T.  C.  &  E.  C.  JACK 

1905 


The  Revised  Version  is  planted  by  permission  ofihe 
Universities  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge 


CONTENTS 


Editor's  Introduction  ...... 

1.  Place  of  Samuel  in  the  O.T.  Canon  . 

ii.  Arrangement  and  Contents  of  Samuel 

iii.   Characteristics  of  the  Older  Historical  Literature 

iv.  The  Sources  of  the  Book  of  Samuel  . 

V.  The  Deuteronomic  Edition  of  Samuel 

vi.  The   Post-Deuteronomic    Redaction  and   Late 
Additions         ...... 

vii.  The  Text  of  Samuel  and  the  Value  of  the  Greek 
Version ....... 

viii.  The  Historical  Value  of  the  Book  of  Samuel 

ix.  The  Chronology  of  the  Book     . 

Notation  of  Sources  and  List  of  Abbreviations  . 

Text  of  the  Revised  Version  with  Annotations 

Appendix  : 

Note  A.     The  Ark  in  the  Books  of  Samuel 
Note  B.     Bibliography     ..... 

Index    of  Names  and  .Subiects    .... 


PAGE 

I 


7 
13 
23 


26 
27 
30 
32 

33 


32  T 

326 

327 


MAPS 

Palestine  in  the  Eleventh  Century  . 
Modern  Jerusalem         .         .         .         . 


Facuic  Ti//f 


THE   BOOK   OF  SAMUEL 

INTRODUCTION 


0 


I  AND  II  SAMUEL 

INTRODUCTION 

I.    The  Place  of  Samuel  in  the  O.  T.  Canon. 

In  the  ordinary  Bible  of  English-speaking  Protestants 
the  books  of  the  Old  Testament  will  be  found  to  be 
arranged  in  three  groups,  which  have  been  termed,  with 
sufficient  accuracy,  the  historical  (Genesis — Esther),  the 
poetical  (Job — Song  of  Songs  ^),  and  the  prophetical'^ 
(Isaiah — Malachi).  This  arrangement,  which  was  adopted 
directly  from  the  Vulgate,  the  Latin  Bible  of  the  mediaeval 
Church,  and  ultimately  from  the  Greek  Version  of  the 
Seventy  (LXX,  see  below,  pp.  26  f.),  differs  considerably 
from  the  order  in  which  the  O.  T.  books  are  found  in  the 
manuscripts  and  printed  editions  of  the  Hebrew  Bible.  In 
these  we  also  find  three  groups  of  books,  representing  the 
three  stages  in  the  historical  growth  of  the  Old  Testament 
Canon,  and  named  respectively  the  Law  (lord),  the 
Prophets  {nedt'hn),  and  the  Writings  or  Hagiographa 
(ketiUim).  The  first  division  comprises  the  five  books 
from  Genesis  to  Deuteronomy,  now  generally  termed  the 
Pentateuch.  The  second  is  made  up  of  two  smaller 
groups  or  subdivisions,  to  which  the  Jewish  authorities 
have  given  the  names  of  the  *  Former '  and  the  *  Latter 
Prophets.'  The  'Former  Prophets'  comprise  the  four 
books  of  Joshua,  Judges,  Samuel,  and  Kings,  while  the 

^  This  is  the  more  accurate  title  which  the  '  Song  of  Solomon ' 
bears  in  the  R.  V.,  being  a  translation  of  the  heading  of  the 
poem  in  the  Hebrew  Bible. 

^^  The  above  nomenclature  goes  back  at  least  to  Gregory  of 
Nazianzus  {see  Swete,  Iftirndnctiou  to  the  O.  T.  in  Greek.  205). 

B    2 


4  I   AND    II    SAMUEL 

*  Latter  Prophets '  are  also  reckoned  to  contain  four 
books,  viz.  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel,  and  the  book  of  the 
twelve  so-called  Minor  Prophets.  The  remaining  books 
of  the  Canon  find  a  place  among  the  Hagiographa. 

In  this  arrangement  of  its  sacred  Scriptures  adopted  by 
the  Jewish  Church,  therefore,  the  Book  of  Samuel  ranks 
among  the  writings  of  the  Prophets,  the  significance  of 
which  for  the  proper  understanding  of  the  true  aim  of  the 
Hebrew  historians  will  appear  in  the  sequel.  The  ex- 
pression '  Book  of  Samuel '  has  been  used  advisedly  in 
the  above  context — and  also  frequently  in  the  following 
pages — since  the  present  division  of  the  Hebrew  text 
into  two  books  is  of  comparatively  recent  origin,  having 
been  introduced,  along  with  a  similar  partition  of  Kings 
and  Chronicles,  by  Daniel  Bomberg,  the  famous  Venetian 
printer,  in  the  second  edition  of  his  Hebrew  Bible  (1517). 
In  this  Bomberg  was  simply  following  the  lead  of  the 
Greek  and  Latin  Versions,  in  which  the  books  of  Samuel 
and  Kings  together  are  entitled  the  First,  Second,  Third 
and  Fourth  Books  of  Kingdoms  (LXX)  or  of  Kings 
(Vulgate).  From  the  Vulgate  are  derived  also  the  titles 
which  stand  at  the  head  of  the  two  Books  of  Samuel  in 
the  Authorized  Version  (A.  V.), '  the  First  (Second)  Book  of 
Samuel,  otherwise  called  the  First  (Second)  Book  of  the 
Kings.'  The  latter  designation  has  now  fallen  into  disuse, 
and  has  been  rightly  dropped  in  the  Revised  Version  (R.V.). 

That  a  book,  which  continues  to  relate  the  fortunes  of 
Saul  and  David  for  nearly  forty  years  after  the  death  of 
Samuel,  should  bear  his  name  is  clearly  not  to  be  ex- 
plained by  the  curious  opinion  of  later  Judaism  that 
Samuel  was  its  author.  Even  such  a  modification  of  this 
view  as  would  accept  him  as  the  author  of  the  first  part 
of  the  book  has  been  shown  to  be  untenable  by  modern 
research  into  its  literary  structure  (see  sect,  iv  below). 
The  explanation  of  the  title  is  rather  to  be  sought  in  the 
fact  that  the  birth  and  call  of  Samuel  form  the  theme  of 
the  opening  chapters,  or  in  the  prominent  part  played  by 


INTRODUCTION  $ 

the  Seer  of  Ramah  in  the  establishment  of  the  monarchy. 
The  first  two  kings,  it  will  be  remembered,  each  received 
consecration  at  his  hands  (i  Sam.  x.  i,  xvi.  13).  We 
have  here,  in  short,  the  Book  of  Samuel '  the  King-maker.' 


II.    Arrangement  and  Contents  of  Samuel. 

With  the  exception  of  the  Psalter,  no  O.  T.  book  gives 
such  unmistakable  evidence  of  systematic  arrangement  on 
the  part  of  its  editor  or  editors  as  does  the  Book  of 
Samuel.  The  presence,  at  certain  well-defined  intervals, 
of  three  concluding  summaries  from  editorial  hands 
clearly  betrays  the  design  of  a  fourfold  division  of  our 
book.  The  summaries  in  question  are  (i)  i  Sam.  xiv. 
47-51,  a  brief  rcsunie  oi  the  wars  of  Saul,  with  an  equally 
brief  family  record  ;  (2)  2  Sam.  viii,  which  is  entirely 
occupied  with  a  more  extended  summary  of  David's 
campaigns  (1-14)  and  a  list  of  the  chief  officers  of  his 
court  (15-18),  with  which  the  family  Hsts  now  found  in 
2  Sam.  iii.  2-5  and  v.  13-16  were  in  all  probability 
originally  associated ;  (3)  3  Sam.  xx.  23-26,  which  is 
practically  a  duplicate  of  viii.  I5ff.  (for  the  explanation 
see  p.  25).  The  remaining  four  chapters  of  the  book  are 
evidently  of  the  nature  of  an  appendix. 

As  regards  the  contents,  it  may  be  said,  briefly,  that  in 
the  Book  of  Samuel  we  have  all  that  the  editors  of  the 
exilic  and  early  post-exilic  periods  thought  worthy  of 
preservation  regarding  the  greatest  of  the  Hebrew  kings, 
his  predecessor,  Saul,  and  the  imposing  religious  person- 
ality who  forms  the  connecting  link  between  the  monarchy 
and  the  period  of  the  Judges. 

The  following  synopsis  shows  the  four  divisions  of  the 
book  just  indicated  with  appropriate  subdivisions.  For 
convenience  of  expository  study,  the  latter  have  been 
further  subdivided  in  the  body  of  the  commentary  into 
sections,  the  extent  and  contents  of  which  are  indicated 
at  the  proper  places  in  the  notes. 


6  I   AND   II   SAMUEL 

First  Division,     i  Samuel  I — XIV. 

Samuel  and  Saul. 

A.  i-vii.     The  Early  Life  and  Judgeship  of  Samuel. 

B.  viii-xii.     The  Establishment  of  the  Monarchy. 

C.  xiii-xiv.     Saul's  First  Campaign  against  the  Philistines. 

Second  Division,     i  Samuel  XV — 2  Samuel  VIII. 
Saul  and  David. 

A.  xv-xx.    The  Rejection  of  Saul  and  Introduction  of  David. 

Saul's  Jealousy  and  its  Results. 

B.  xxi-xxvi.     David's  flight  from  Court  and  his  subsequent 

Adventures  as  an  Outlaw  Captain  in  the  South. 

C.  xxvii-xxxi.     David  as  the  Vassal  of  the  King  of  Gath. 

The  Philistine  Invasion  and  Death  of  Saul  and  Jonathan. 

D.  2  Sam.  i-viii.     David  installed  as  King,  first  of  Judah, 

then  of  all  Israel. 

Third  Division.     2  Samuel  IX — XX. 

At  the  Court  of  David, 

A.  ix.     David  s  Kindness  to  Meri-baal. 

B.  x-xii.     David's  War  with  the  Ammonites,  including  the 

Affair  of  Bath-sheba. 

C.  xiii-xiv.     Amnon  and  Absalom. 

D.  xv-xix.     The  Story  of  Absalom's  Rebellion. 

E.  XX.     The  Revolt  of  Sheba. 

Fourth  Division.     2  Samuel  XXI — XXIV. 

An  Appendix  of  Various  Contents. 

A.  xxi.  1-14.     The  Famine  and  its  Consequences  for  the 

House  of  Saul. 

B.  xxi.  15-22.    A  Series  of  Exploits  against  the  Philistines. 

C.  xxii.     David's  Thanksgiving  Hymn. 

D.  xxiii.  1-7.     David's  '  Last  Words.' 

E.  xxiii.   8-39.     David's  Two  Orders  of  Knighthood. 

F.  xxiv.     David's  Census  and  its  Consequences. 


INTRODUCTION  7 

III.  Characteristics  of  the  Older  Historical 
Literature. 

Apart  from  the  five  books  of  the  Law,  the  more  strictly 
historical  books  of  the  O.  T.  form  two  distinct  and,  to 
some  extent,  parallel  groups,  an  earlier  group  comprising 
the  books  of  the  '  Former  Prophets,'  Joshua,  Judges, 
Samuel  and  Kings,  as  explained  above,  and  a  later  group 
now  included  among  the  Hagiographa,  and  consisting  of 
the  two  Books  of  Chronicles,  with  Ezra  and  Nehemiah,  the 
four  having  originally  formed  a  single  continuous  narra- 
tive in  the  order  given.  In  addition  to  this  difference  of 
position  in  the  Jewish  Canon,  the  two  groups  are  sharply 
distinguished  from  each  other  by  the  nature  of  their 
general  interests,  and  by  a  marked  difference  of  religious 
standpoint.  The  later  group,  as  represented  by  the 
Books  of  Chronicles,  is  dominated  by  ecclesiastical  inter- 
ests *,  and  reflects  throughout  the  tone  and  standpoint  of 
the  Priestly  Code  (for  which  see  Bennett's  Genesis  in  this 
series,  pp.  34  ff.).  The  earlier  group,  to  which  the  Book  of 
Samuel  belongs,  requires  and  will  repay  a  more  extended 
study. 

{a)  The  beginnings  of  historical  literature  among  the 
Hebrews.  'The  making  of  history",'  writes  Professor 
Moore  of  Andover  '^,  *  precedes  the  writing  of  history,  and 
it  is  often  found  that  the  impulse  to  write  history  is  first 
given  by  some  great  achievement,  which  exalts  the  self- 
consciousness  of  a  people  and  awakens  the  sense  of  the 
memorable  character  of  what  it  has  done.*  As  illustrative 
instances  Moore  cites  the  struggle  of  Greece  with  Persia, 
the  second  Punic  war  and  its  influence  on  Rome,  and 
the  empire  of  Charles  the  Great  among  the  Germans.     In 

^  'The  Chronicler's  work  is  an  ecclesiastical  history;  the 
Jewish  Church  in  Jerusalem  is  its  subject'  (Moore,  EBi.  ii. 
2085). 

"^  See  his  admirable  article  *  Historical  Literature '  in  the 
second  volume  of  Cheyne  and  Black's  Encyclopaedia  Bihlica 
(denoted  in  these  pages  by  EBi.). 


8  I   AND   II   SAMUEL 

the  same  way,  the  first  impulse  to  historical  writing 
among  the  Hebrews  was  given  by  the  prolonged  struggle 
with  the  Philistines  for  the  mastery  of  Palestine,  a  struggle 
which  seems  to  have  absorbed  almost  the  whole  energies 
of  Saul  during  his  comparatively  short  reign  (i  Sam.  xiv. 
52),  and  which  was  carried  to  a  victorious  issue  by  his 
great  successor. 

From  another  but  closely  connected  point  of  view,  it 
may  without  hesitation  be  affirmed  that  those  material 
conditions,  which  have  everywhere  been  found  to  be 
indispensable  for  the  cultivation  of  Hterature,  were  first 
secured  to  the  Hebrews  in  the  reigns  of  David  and 
Solomon.  The  former  was  a  capable  statesman  as  well 
as  an  able  general.  To  David  was  due  not  only  the 
consolidation  of  the  tribes  of  north  and  south  into 
a  united  people,  but  the  introduction  of  a  stable  govern- 
ment with  an  administration  suited  to  the  needs  of  the 
time.  Under  the  more  peaceful  reign  of  his  son  the 
kingdom  of  Israel  reached  a  height  of  material  prosperity 
to  which  the  land  had  been  a  stranger  for  centuries. 
With  so  much  in  that  glorious  time  to  re-create  and 
quicken  the  national  consciousness,  enfeebled  by  two 
centuries  of  tribal  jealousy  and  dissension — witness  the 
Song  of  Deborah  (Judges  v)— and  to  fire  the  imaginations 
of  the  more  thoughtful  spirits  of  the  age,  it  would  be  sur- 
prising if  no  literature  should  spring  to  birth.  Doubtless 
the  most  of  what  was  sung  and  written  in  the  'golden 
prime '  of  Solomon  has  long  since  perished.  But  one 
historical  work,  at  least,  has  in  great  part  survived,  perhaps 
the  finest  flower  of  Hebrew  narrative  in  the  O.  T.  This 
is  the  history  of  David's  family  and  court  which  now 
occupies  chapters  ix-xx  of  2  Samuel,  and  is  continued  in 
the  first  two  chapters  of  the  Book  of  Kings.  Whether 
the  other  early  narrative,  which  opens  with  i  Sam.  ix  and 
tells  of  the  institution  of  the  monarchy  and  of  David's  rela- 
tions to  Saul,  is  part  of  the  same  document,  as  some  recent 
scholars  maintain,  must  here  be  left  an  open  question  (see 


INTRODUCTION  .9 

pp.  21  f.).  In  any  case  its  date  can  scarcely  be  later  than  the 
reign  of  Rehoboam  (cf.  i  Sam.  xxvii.  6).  The  view  to  which 
expression  has  just  been  given  that  the  first  essays  in  his- 
torical writing  among  the  Hebrews  were  made  soon  after 
the  national  revival  under  David,  with  the  great  events 
of  the  recent  past  for  their  theme,  and  that  only  after- 
wards was  the  history  of  the  remoter  past  taken  in  hand, 
is  the  view  of  most  recent  students  of  Hebrew  historio- 
graphy (Stade,  Kittel,  Budde,  Moore,  Kent,  &c.). 

(d)  The  two  main  types  of  ancient  history'^.  In  all 
ancient  literatures  the  oldest  type  of  historical  writing  is 
the  narrative  or  descriptive  type.  The  writer's  aim  is  to 
set  down  the  incidents  he  deems  worthy  of  preservation 
in  such  a  way  as  to  convey  to  his  readers  an  accurate 
impression  of  their  nature  and  sequence.  It  is  no  part  of 
his  purpose  to  draw  religious  or  other  lessons  from  the 
facts  he  records.  The  story  is  left  to  point  its  own  moral. 
Of  this  kind  of  history  2  Sam.  ix-xx,  above  referred  to, 
is  a  classical  illustration  (see  further,  pp.  20  ff.  and  note 
on  2  Sam.  xii,  p.  244). 

In  almost  all  cases  the  narrative  type  of  history  is 
succeeded,  but  not  superseded,  by  the  didactic  type.  For 
the  didactic  or  pragmatic  historian  the  story  of  the  past 
is  not  the  bare  record  of  a  series  of  successive  happenings^, 
but  a  storehouse  of  political,  moral,  and  religious  lessons 
for  the  men  of  the  present.  That  the  historian's  chief 
end  is  the  education  of  the  race  has  been  firmly  held  by 
some  of  our  most  eminent  English  historians.  Thus 
a  recent  writer,  himself  an  historian,  has  said  of  the  late 
S.  R.  Gardiner :   *  In  his  conception,  if  history  was  not 


*  With  the  following  paragraphs  compare  the  fuller  treat- 
ment of  this  topic  by  Professor  Skinner  in  the  Introduction 
to  his  commentary  on  Kings  in  this  (Century  Bible)  series, 
pp.  5ff.  and  Moore's  article  cited  above. 

-  An  expression  suggested  by  Droysen's  almost  untranslat- 
able distinction  between  nature  as  'das  Nebeneinander  dcs 
Seicnden,'  and  history  as  'das  Nacheinander  des  Gewordencn.' 


ip  I   AND   II   SAMUEL 

directly  didactic,  the  writing  of  it  is  a  vain  labour ; 
and  the  true  scientific  historian  is  he  who  most  conscien- 
tiously seeks  to  ascertain  and  present  the  lessons  which 
the  past  has  to  offer  ^' 

Now,  among  the  Hebrews,  it  was  pre-eminently  the 
prophets  of  the  eighth  century  before  Christ  who  first 
made  this  conception  of  history  a  feature  of  their  teach- 
ing. *The  prophets  of  the  eighth  century  interpreted 
Yahweh's  dealings  with  His  people  upon  a  consistent 
moral  principle  ;  the  evils  which  afflict  the  nation  and  the 
graver  evils  which  are  imminent  are  Divine  judgements 
upon  it  for  its  sins  .  .  .  The  application  of  this  principle 
by  the  writers  of  the  seventh  and  sixth  centuries  makes 
an  era  in  Hebrew  historiography ;  narrative  history 
is  succeeded  by  pragmatic  history '  (Moore).  In  i  Sam. 
XV  we  have  a  good  example  of  the  pragmatic  or  didactic 
treatment  of  the  tradition  ^  respecting  Saul's  rejection  by 
Samuel  at  Gilgal.  The  historical  incident  is  used  in  the 
spirit  of  the  prophets  to  enforce  the  moral  lesson  that 
obedience  '  is  better  than  sacrifice  '  (i  Sam.  xv.  22). 

(c)  The  Deuteronomic  school  of  historians.  The  pro- 
mulgation of  the  legislation  of  Deuteronomy  in  the  eigh- 
teenth year  of  Josiah  (622-621  B.C.)  gave  an  immediate 
and  far-reaching  impulse  to  the  didactic  method  of 
historical  writing.  The  quickly  following  calamity  of  the 
Exile  set  the  seal  of  the  Divine  approval  upon  the  prophetic 
interpretation  of  the  past,  and  in  the  Exile,  accordingly, 
the  didactic  treatment  of  the  pre-exilic  history  reached 
its  highest  development.  From  the  circumstance  that 
the  devout  writers  and  editors  of  this  period  {circa  620- 

^  P.  Hume  Brown  in  Chambers'  Encycl.  of  English  Literature 
(1903),  vol.  ill.  631.  Cf.  the  same  writer's  judgement  on 
Carlyle  and  Froude,  ibid.  500. 

-  On  *  the  popular  misconception  that  the  word  **  tradition  " 
implies  that  the  literature  thus  designated  is  necessarily  un- 
trustworthy and  unhistorical,*  see  the  excellent  remarks  of 
Professor  Kent  in  his  Beginnings  of  Heh,  History  (1904),  p.  4. 


INTRODUCTION  ii 

450  B.C.)  drew  their  inspiration  and  their  ideals  mainly 
from  the  Book  of  Deuteronomy,  they  have  appropriately 
been  named  the  Deuteronomic  or  Deuteronomistic  school 
of  historians.  It  is  to  this  school  that  we  owe,  in  the 
main,  the  historical  books  of  the  O.  T.  from  Joshua  to 
Kings.  This  is  not  to  be  understood  as  implying  that  the 
chief  part  of  the  contents  of  these  books  was  then  first 
committed  to  writing,  but  in  the  sense  that  the  books  in 
question  received,  if  not  the  precise  form  in  which  we 
now  have  them  (see  sect,  vi),  yet  a  form  not  essentially 
different  at  the  hands  of  editors  of  this  school. 

The  principles  which  guided  the  Deuteronomic  editors 
in  their  treatment  of  the  older  narrative  histories  have 
been  so  fully  and  so  ably  expounded  by  Professor  Skinner 
in  his  Introduction  to  the  Books  of  Kings  (pp.  I4ff. ;  of. 
Thatcher's  y//4?''^-^~^^s'^  ^^  ^^^  present  series— pp.  5  ff.)^ 
that  it  is  unnecessary  to  enlarge  upon  them  here  (but  see 
on  1  Sam.  xii.  14),  all  the  more  as  these  principles  are  but 
little  in  evidence  in  the  Book  of  Samuel  compared  with 
their  more  detailed  and  systematic  application  to  the 
Books  of  Judges  and  Kings  (cf.  sect,  v  below).  It  must 
suffice  to  say,  in  general  terms,  that  the  primary  aim  of 
the  exilic  historians  of  Israel  was  not  to  hand  down  to 
posterity  a  minute  and  objective  history  of  the  chosen 
people,  but  to  interpret  to  their  contemporaries  God's 
discipline  in  history  of  His  people  in  the  light  of  the 
teaching  of  Deuteronomy,  and  of  the  great  prophets  of 
whose  inspired  thoughts  Deuteronomy  is,  in  a  sense,  the 
literary  deposit.  This  conscious  aim  determined  the 
selection  of  their  materials  from  the  fuller  historical 
records  at  their  command  ;  hence  the  scant  treatment 
which  Saul  and  his  reign  receive  in  i  Samuel  ;  hence  the 
reduction  to  bald  summaries  of  David's  relations  with  the 


^  See  also  Moore,  EBi.  ii.  2079,  and  more  fully  Wildeboer's 
chapter  on  the  Deuteronomic  conception  of  history  in  his 
Litttratur  cUs  alten  Testaincnis.  229  flf,,  csp,  242  f. 


12  I   AND   II   SAMUEL 

Philistines  and  the  other  neighbouring  states,  and  of 
the  internal  administration  of  his  realm  in  2  Samuel ; 
hence,  too,  the  many  regrettable  omissions  in  the  political 
history  of  North  Israel  in  the  Book  of  Kings. 

Nevertheless  these  earnest  students  and  teachers  of  the 
Exile  were  also  in  their  measure  prophets,  for  they  were  in 
a  very  real  sense  God's  *  interpreters '  (Isa.  xliii.  27  R.V.), 
men  on  whom  God  had  put  His  Spirit  (Num.  xii.  29)  as 
a  spirit  of  interpretation.  The  results  of  their  labours 
have  found  their  proper  place  in  the  Hebrew  Canon 
among  *  the  prophets.'  History,  in  short,  as  written  and 
compiled  by  such  men  is  *  prophecy  teaching  by  example  ^' 
Its  lessons,  in  consequence,  are  not  'of  an  age'  but  for 
all  time. 

{d)  The  literary  methods  of  Hebrew  historians.  Before 
we  pass  from  the  subject  of  this  section  a  word  requires 
to  be  said  regarding  the  literary  methods  of  Hebrew 
historians  generally  and  of  the  Deuteronomic  school  in 
particular.  The  primary  aim  of  this  school,  we  have  just 
seen,  was  to  impress  upon  the  minds  and  hearts  of  their 
readers  the  moral  and  religious  lessons  which  the  Divine 
discipline  of  Israel  was  so  fitted  to  teach  them.  In  their 
pursuit  of  this  aim  the  method  adopted — and  it  is  the 
method  of  oriental  historiography  in  general  (see  Robert- 
son Smith's  Old  Testament  in  the  Jeiuish  Chta-ch^  2nd  ed., 
p.  328  ;  cf.  ii3f.) — presents  a  striking  contrast  to  the 
methods  of  the  modern  historian  of  the  West.  The 
latter  sets  himself  to  master  his  authorities  and  original 
sources,  and  then  seeks  to  give  literary  form  to  the  history 
in  his  own  words  and  his  own  style.  The  Hebrew 
historian,  on  the  other  hand,  did  this  but  rarely  unless 
when,  as  in  the  case  of  the  earliest  of  all,  he  had  to  draw 
his  materials  from  oral  tradition.  As  a  rule  he  was 
content  to  reproduce,  as  far  as  was  consistent  with  his 

^  The  aphorism  is  Moore's  {EBi.  ii.  2079),  and  is  a  happy 
adaptation  of  Bolingbroke's  dictum  (from  Dionysius  of  Hali- 
carnassus)  that  '  history  is  philosophy  teaching  by  example.' 


INTRODUCTION  13 

purpose,  the  very  words  of  his  documentaiy  sources, 
weaving  his  extracts  into  a  connected  narrative,  while 
scrupulously  preserving  their  colour  and  style.  It  was 
enough  if  he  supplied  the  necessary  connecting  links, 
harmonized,  so  far  as  was  deemed  advisable  or  possible, 
the  more  glaring  discrepancies,  and  perhaps  passed  judge- 
ment on  the  actors  and  the  incidents  from  his  higher 
moral  and  religious  standpoint. 

This  uniform  characteristic  of  Hebrew  historiography 
explains  why  modern  scholars  prefer  to  speak  of  the 
compiler,  rather  than  of  the  author,  of  Samuel  or  Kings 
or  the  Pentateuch.  Fortunately  also,  it  makes  possible, 
in  large  measure,  the  task  which  lies  before  us  in  the  next 
section  of  this  Introduction. 

IV.    The  Sources  of  the  Book  of  Samuel 

Like  the  Pentateuch,  and  like  the  other  books  asso- 
ciated with  it  in  the  canonical  group  of  the  '  Former 
Prophets,'  Samuel  has  disclosed  itself  to  modern  research 
as  a  compilation  from  a  number  of  previously  existing 
historical  documents.  In  the  preceding  section  we  have 
learned  something  of  the  aims  and  methods  of  the  com- 
pilers and  editors  who  gave  to  the  historical  books  what 
was  essentially  their  present  fonn,  and  how  the  fidelity 
with  which  they  have  reproduced  these  older  documents 
with  all  their  original  characteristics  of  style  and  repre- 
sentation has  enabled  modern  scholars  to  separate  and 
study,  each  by  itself,  the  works  of  these  earliest  historians 
of  Israel. 

The  credit  of  having  first  laid  down  the  main  lines 
along  which  the  literary  analysis  of  Samuel  must  proceed 
belongs,  above  all,  to  Julius  Wellhausen  ^,  with  whom  the 

^  In  his  edition  (the  fourth)  of  Bleek's  Einleititng  in  das  alte 
Test.  (1878),  afterwards  in  his  Comp.  des  Hexateuchs  ;  for  these 
and  the  other  works  referred  to  see  the  bibliographical  list  in 
the  Appendix,  note  B  (cf.  H.  P.  Smith,  Samttei,  xxviiif.). 


14  I    AND    II    SAMUEL 

names  of  Budde  and  Cornill  must  be  honourably  asso- 
ciated. With  regard  to  the  results  of  the  critical  labours 
of  these  and  other  recent  scholars,  details  of  which  will 
presently  be  laid  before  the  reader,  it  may  be  said  that 
there  is  now  a  general  consensus  of  opinion  among 
critical  students  as  to  the  broad  lines  of  demarcation 
between  the  various  '  sources '  of  the  book.  On  the  other 
hand,  there  is  still  considerable  divergence,  as  will  appear 
in  the  sequel,  as  regards  the  number,  age,  and  mutual 
relations  of  the  documents  which  the  analysis  has  dis- 
closed, and  as  to  the  details  of  the  literary  process  by 
which  the  Book  of  Samuel  has  gradually  assumed  its 
present  form.  While  the  general  outline  of  this  process 
is  sufficiently  clear  as  involving  three  distinct  stages  of 
growth — represented  by  the  original  documents  circulating 
independently,  the  Deuteronomic  edition  and  the  post- 
Deuteronomic  or  present  canonical  edition  respectively 
(see  below) — there  is  much  of  the  detail  that  admits  of 
more  than  one  plausible  explanation,  so  that  Stade's 
verdict  is  not  far  from  the  truth  that  '  the  history  of  the 
origin  of  the  Books  of  Samuel,  in  spite  of  the  great  pre- 
dominance of  the  ancient  sources,  is  very  complicated ' 
(article  '  Samuel,'  EBL  iv.  4274).  In  a  popular  work 
such  as  the  present  it  would  manifestly  be  out  of  place  to 
enter  into  the  minute  details  of  the  literary  and  historical 
criticism  of  Samuel ;  it  will  be  sufficient  to  indicate  in 
broad  outline  the  nature  of  the  critical  argument. 

{a)  Analysis  of  i  Sam.  i~xiv.  Our  study  of  the  sources 
may  begin  with  an  examination  of  the  structure  of  the 
first  of  the  four  divisions  of  Samuel,  in  which  the  com- 
posite nature  of  the  present  narrative  is  peculiarly  evi- 
dent. The  most  promising  starting-point  is  provided  by 
the  second  subdivision,  i  Sam.  viii-xii  \  which  gives  a 


1  As  an  illustration  of  method  the  study  of  this  section  has 
been  given  in  more  detail  than  is  possible  or  necessary  in  the 
case  of  the  others. 


INTRODUCTION  15 

detailed  account  of  the  introduction  of  the  monarchy  and  of 
Saul's  election  as  the  first  king  of  Israel.  The  following 
is  a  summary  of  the  contents  of  these  five  chapters  as 
they  now  stand.  Moved  to  action  by  the  unworthy 
character  and  conduct  of  his  sons,  the  elders  of  Israel 
approach  the  aged  Samuel,  as  the  theocratic  repre- 
sentative of  Yahweh,  with  the  request  that  he  would 
appoint  a  king  to  rule  over  Israel,  after  the  manner  of  the 
surrounding  nations.  This  request  Samuel  regards  as 
treason  to  Yahweh,  but  is  advised  by  Him  to  accede  to 
the  people's  demand  (ch.  viii).  At  this  juncture  Samuel 
makes  the  acquaintance,  under  interesting  circumstances, 
of  a  Benjamite  noble,  Saul,  the  son  of  Kish,  and  is 
divinely  informed  that  this  is  the  man  whom  Yahweh  has 
appointed  to  be  the  deliverer  of  His  people  from  the 
Philistine  oppression  and  their  future  king.  Saul  is 
anointed  by  Samuel  (x.  i),  and  instructed  as  to  certain 
signs  by  which  Yahweh's  gracious  purpose  w-ith  regard 
to  him  will  be  confirmed.  The  Divine  choice  is  afterwards 
ratified  by  the  arbitrament  of  the  sacred  lot  at  Mizpah 
(chapters  ix-x).  As  yet,  however,  Saul  is  only  king  de 
hire,  but  soon  afterwards  an  opportunity  occurs  for  him  to 
show  his  capacity  for  military  leadership  (xi.  i  fif.) — he 
had  meanwhile  returned  to  his  farm — and  the  people  are 
thereafter  summoned  by  Samuel  to  Gilgal  *  to  renew  the 
kingdom  there'  (xi.  14).  At  Gilgal  Saul  is  solemnly 
confirmed  in  the  kingship,  and  is  henceforth  king  de  facto, 
Samuel  at  the  same  time  takes  an  impressive  farewell  of 
the  people,  reserving  only  to  himself  the  office  of  inter- 
cessor with  Yahweh  in  the  new  and  doubtful  situation  in 
which  his  compatriots  have  placed  themselves  (xii). 

Now  it  is  impossible  to  read  the  complete  narrative  in 
these  chapters  without  receiving  the  impression  that  the 
do7nt7iant  note  is  one  of  hostility  to  the  monarchy  as  ati 
institution.  But  a  closer  examination  reveals  the  fact 
that  this  attitude  is  not  maintained  throughout,  but  is 
confined  to  certain  sections  of  the  narrative.     Viewing 


i6  I   AND   II  SAMUEL 

chapter  viii  in  the  light  thrown  upon  it  by  the  preceding 
chapter,  of  which  it  is  the  continuation,  we  see  that  Israel 
is  conceived  as  living  in  an  ideal  state  of  peace  and 
security  under  theocratic  government,  untroubled  by  foes 
from  without  or  from  within  (vii.  14).  The  request  for 
a  human  king,  *to  judge  us  like  all  the  nations'  (viii.  5),  is  an 
act  of  rebellion  against  Yahweh,  their  true  King  (xii.  12), 
since  the  theocracy  is  the  form  of  government  under 
which  His  people  were  intended  by  God  to  fulfil  their 
mission  to  the  world. 

In  chapter  ix,  on  the  other  hand,  the  condition  of 
Yahweh's  *  people  Israel'  is  one  of  sore  'affliction'  (see 
note  on  ix.  16)  at  the  hands  of  the  Philistines.  Yahweh 
has  *  heard  their  cry,'  and  of  His  own  free  will  resolves 
to  give  them  a  king  in  the  person  of  Saul.  Here  the 
monarchy  is  God*s  gracious  gift  to  His  people.  In  this 
chapter,  furthermore,  the  picture  of  Samuel  as  the 
comparatively  unknown  seer  of  a  country  village  (ix.  6  ff.) 
offers  a  striking  contrast  to  that  of  Samuel  the  theocratic 
judge  of  all  Israel,  the  all-powerful  vicegerent  of  Yahweh, 
as  he  appears  in  chapters  vii,  viii  and  xii. 

Following  the  clues  thus  provided  (i)  by  the  radically 
opposed  attitudes  to  the  monarchy,  and  (2)  by  the 
divergent  representations  of  the  then  political  condition 
of  Israel  and  of  the  person  of  Samuel,  it  is  not  difficult  to 
analyse  chapters  viii-xii  into  two  mutually  independent 
documents.  These,  for  reasons  to  be  given  presently,  we 
shall  denote  by  the  symbols  D  and  M.    We  have  then : — 

D  (hostile  to  the  monarchy)  :  viii.  1-22  [closely  con- 
nected with  ch.  vii],  x.  17-24,  xii.  1-25. 

M  (favourable  to  the  monarchy)  :  ix.  I — x.  16,  xi.  I-Il, 
15  [continued  xiii.  2-7%  15^-18,  23,  xiv.  1-46,  52]. 

The  verses  not  found  in  either  of  the  above  series  are 
from  the  hand  of  the  compiler  or  redactor  (R,  see  p.  24), and 
are  due  to  the  necessity  of  providing,  so  far  as  this  could  be 
done,  a  chronologically  and  otherwise  consistent  narrative 
from  the  two  documents  at  his  command.    There  is  good 


INTRODUCTION  17 

reason,  also,  for  believing  that  the  compiler  has,  from  the 
same  motive  (see  in  detail,  p.  74),  been  led  to  rearrange 
the  sections  of  D  in  an  order  different  from  that  in  which 
they  originally  stood.  Since  the  document  beginning  ix.  i, 
and  continued  in  chs.  xiii-xiv,  is  so  entirely  favourable  to 
the  institution  of  the  Monarchy,  the  introduction  and 
early  history  of  which  it  is  clearly  its  writer's  purpose  to 
record,  we  propose  in  the  following  pages  to  indicate  it  by 
the  symbol  M.  The  other,  which,  as  will  immediately 
appear,  betrays  an  unmistakable  affinity  with  the  Book  of 
Deuteronomy,  will  be  denoted  by  D. 

As  to  the  relative  value  of  the  two  documents  as 
authorities  for  the  history  of  Samuel  and  Saul,  there  can 
be  no  question  that  M  is  more  in  harmony  with  the  actual 
conditions  of  the  time,  as  these  are  reflected  in  the 
previous  and  subsequent  course  of  Hebrew  history.  In 
D  we  have  rather  an  illustration  of  the  later  idealization 
of  the  earlier  portions  of  the  history  of  Israel,  such  as  we 
find  in  the  ideal  representation  of  the  conquest  of  Canaan 
in  the  Book  of  Joshua  as  contrasted  with  the  more  his- 
torical account  in  the  first  chapter  of  Judges  (cf.  p.  68). 
The  ideal  traits  in  D's  treatment  of  the  period  of  Samuel 
is  still  more  apparent  in  ch.  vii.  Take,  for  example,  the 
statement  that  '  the  Philistines  came  no  more  within 
the  border  of  Israel  ...  all  the  days  of  Samuel,'  which  is 
directly  at  variance  not  only  with  the  equally  precise 
statement  in  l  Sam.  xiv.  52,  but  with  all  that  we  know  of 
the  historical  circumstances  which  gave  birth  to  the  mon- 
archy. The  numerous  resemblances  in  expression  and 
general  standpoint  between  those  chapters  of  i  Samuel 
assigned  to  D,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  Book  of  Deu- 
teronomy and  the  characteristically  Deuteronomic  parts  of 
Judges  and  Kings  on  the  other,  have  been  convincingly 
demonstrated  by  Lohr  in  his  recent  edition  of  Thenius' 
commentary,  pp.  xxii  flf.' 

'  That  the  chapters  in  question  are  a  product  of  the 
Deuteronomic  school  is  also  maintained  by  Wellhausen,Kuenen, 

C 


i8  I   AND   II   SAMUEL 

As  to  the  date  of  D,  it  is  impossible  to  speak  with  cer- 
tainty. Its  pronounced  hostility  to  the  monarchy,  to 
which  reference  has  so  frequently  been  made,  implies 
a  long  and  unhappy  experience  of  monarchical  govern- 
ment. This  fact,  together  with  certain  linguistic  features, 
especially  in  ch.  xii  (see  p.  91),  seems  to  point  to  a  date 
in  the  Exile.  If  such  is  indeed  the  case  we  have  in  this 
document  the  bitter  reflections  of  a  member  of  the  Deu- 
teronomic  school,  who  regarded  the  defections  and  ex- 
cesses of  the  monarchy  as  largely  responsible  for  the  sins 
of  the  people,  and  the  consequent  destruction  of  the  state. 

Passing  now  to  the  opening  chapters  of  the  book,  we  find 
in  chapters  i-iii,  when  freed  from  the  later  expansions  ii.  i- 
10  and  ii.  27-36  (see  pp.  42,  48),  a  fragment  of  a  biography 
of  Samuel  (hence  the  symbol  S).  Since  its  representation 
of  the  prophet^  who  is  held  in  esteem  throughout  'all 
Israel,  from  Dan  to  Beer-sheba'  (iii.  20),  differs  materially 
both  from  the  theocratic  judge  of  ch.  vii,  and  from  the  seer  of 
Ramah  in  ch.  ix,  it  must  be  regarded  as  an  independent 
source.  If,  as  is  at  least  probable,  xv.  i — xvi.  13  originally 
formed  part  of  this  biography,  its  author  may  have  been 
a  contemporary  of  Jeremiah  (see  on  xv.  22  and  xvi.  7). 

In  chapters  iv-vi,  finally,  we  have  still  another  document 
which,  from  the  antique  cast  of  the  religious  ideas  under- 
lying it,  particularly  as  regards  the  Ark  (hence  our  symbol 
A),  must  be  of  a  considerably  earlier  date  than  the  pre- 
ceding chapters.  It  is  now  a  torso,  both  the  commence- 
ment and  the  continuation  having  been  dropped  by  the 
compiler  (pp.  56,  67).  From  the  fact  that  no  explanation 
is  now  given  of  how  the  *  affliction '  of  Israel  at  the  hands 
of  the  Philistines  (ix.  16)  was  brought  about,  some  scholars 
are  of  opinion  that  chapters  iv-vi  (see  on  vii.  i ;  cf.  iv.  9) 
originally  formed  part  of  the  document  we  have  termed  M. 

Stade,  H.  P.  Smith,  Nowack,  and  others  in  opposition  to 
Budde  and  Cornill,  who  regard  them  as,  with  i  Sam.  i-iii, 
a  continuation  of  the  Hexateuch  source  E,  which  has  been 
revised  merely  by  a  Deuteronomic  hand  (see  further,  p.  22). 


INTRODUCTION  19 

As  in  a  similar  case  which  will  emerge  in  the  sequel,  this 
view  has  much  to  recommend  it,  but  we  prefer,  here  as 
there  (pp.  21  f.),  to  leave  the  question  an  open  one. 

(d)  Ana/ysis  ofi  Sam.  xv — 2 Sam.  viii.  By  the  insertion 
of  the  concluding  summary  (xiv.  47-51)  the  Deuteronomic 
editor  or  redactor  (R)  would  indicate  that  henceforth  the 
central  figure  of  the  narrative  is  to  be  no  longer  Saul  but 
another.  The  way  is  prepared  for  the  entry  of  this  new^ 
character  upon  the  scene  by  the  rejection  of  Saul  (xv), 
which  is  followed  immediately  by  the  consecration  of  his 
successor  (xvi.  1-13),  both  incidents,  as  has  been  already 
indicated  (see  more  fully  pp.  no,  116  below),  being  prob- 
ably derived  from  the  prophetic  biography  of  Samuel  (S). 

With  the  second  introduction  of  David  (cf.  the  intro- 
ductory note,  p.  116)  in  xvi.  i4ff.  the  problem  of  the 
literary  analysis  becomes  complicated  with  another  in- 
volving the  question  of  the  original  text  of  the  two 
following  chapters.  These  problems,  both  literary  and 
textual,  will  be  found  discussed  in  some  detail  in  the 
notes,  where  the  reasons  are  set  forth  for  adopting  the 
shorter  form  presented  by  the  Greek  text.  The  addi- 
tional matter  now  found  in  our  Massoretic  text  has  been 
stamped  as  a  later  expansion  of  the  true  text  by  having 
the  symbol  Z  prefixed.  Apart  from  this  post-redactional 
matter,  to  which  such  remarkable  sections  as  xix.  18-24 
and  xxi.  10-15  ^^  to  be  added,  the  whole  of  the  narrative 
of  this  division  (more  precisely  from  xvi.  14  to  2  Sam.  vi. 
23)  has,  with  comparatively  few  exceptions,  been  drawn 
from  the  early  document  (M),  which  gave  us  the  most 
trustworthy  account  of  the  introduction  of  the  monarchy  \ 
These  exceptions  consist  for  the  most  part  of  such  inci-- 

^  Compare  the  follow^ing  list  of  mutually  connected  passages 
in  this  division  of  Samuel  given  by  Driver  (after  Wellhauscn) 
in  LOT.^  p,  184,  footnote  :  i  Sam.  xviii.  7  and  xxix.  5 ; 
xviii.  25,  27  (LXX)  and  2  Sam.  iii.  14  ;  i  Sam.  xxii.  20  ff.  and 
xxiii.  9ff.  ;  xxiii.  a,  xxx.  8  and  2  Sam.  ii.  i,  v.  19;  i  Sam. 
XXV.  2  ff.  and  xxx.  26  ff.  ;  xxvii.  3  and  xxx.  5. 

C   2 


20  I   AND   II   SAMUEL 

dents  of  David's  chequered  life  at  this  period  as  must 
have  formed  the  favourite  themes  of  the  popular  tradition 
of  the  time  (hence  the  symbol  T,  see  pp.  135  f.).  The 
most  interesting  of  these  is  the  tale  of  David's  magna- 
nimity to  Saul  now  found  in  i  Sam.  xxiii.  19 — xxiv.  22, 
which  is  almost  certainly  a  variant  of  the  older,  and,  in 
some  respects,  more  trustworthy  form  of  the  same  inci- 
dent as  related  in  ch.  xxvi  ^.  To  the  documentary  source 
or  sources  from  which  the  compiler  derived  these  popular 
traditions  we  have  no  clue. 

The  promise  of  the  permanence  of  David's  dynasty 
recorded  in  2  Sam.  vii — a  passage  of  cardinal  importance 
for  the  study  of  the  evolution  of  Israel's  Messianic  Hope 
— is  recognized  on  all  hands  as  at  once  a  document  apart, 
and  as  a  product  of  the  Deuteronomic  school.  Since 
a  descendant  of  David  is  still  evidently  on  the  throne  of 
Judah,  its  date  may  with  some  confidence  be  assigned  to 
the  period  circa  600  B.  C. 

Chapter  viii,  finally,  is  the  editorial  summary,  not 
merely  closing  this  division  of  the  book,  but,  as  we  shall 
see  reason  to  believe  (see  next  section),  originally  forming 
the  conclusion  to  the  first  or  Deuteronomic  edition  of 
Samuel.  The  hterary  feature  of  i  Sam.  xv — 2  Sam.  viii 
is  thus  the  predominance  of  one  leading  authority  (M), 
which  has  been  supplemented  by  the  Deuteronomic 
editor  from  other  sources  (S,  D,  T),  the  whole  having, 
in  the  course  of  transmission,  received  a  number  of  post- 
redactional  expansions  (Z),  for  which  see  section  vi. 

{c)  The  unity  of  2  Sam.  ix-xx.  The  third  division  of 
Samuel  is  to  all  intents  and  purposes  a  literary  unit  ^. 
In  virtue  of  their  perfect  style  and  their  life-like  portraiture, 
the  amount  of  picturesque  detail  and  the  often  dramatic 
intensity  of  the  action,  these  twelve  chapters  constitute 

*  For  numerous  other  duplicate  narratives  in  Samuel,  see 
under  *  doublets'  in  the  Index. 

2  See  Driver,  LOT.^  183,  for  the  mutual  connexion  of  the 
incidents,  and  cf.  the  introductory  note  p.  250  below. 


INTRODUCTION  21 

the  finest,  as  they  are  the  earliest,  specimen  of  continuous 
prose  narrative  in  the  O.  T.  The  writer's  interest  is 
centred  throughout  in  the  person  of  David  and  in  the 
members  of  his  family  and  court  (hence  the  symbol  C). 
With  the  same  impartiality  are  recorded  David's  loyalty 
to  the  memory  of  his  dearest  friend  (ix),  his  own  great 
sin  and  the  sins  of  his  family,  which  brought  scandal  on 
his  court  and  sorrow  on  his  old  age.  The  original  com- 
mencement has  been  dropped  (see  on  ix.  i),  but  the 
continuation  and  probable  close  are  still  found  in  i  Kings 
i-ii.  The  freshness  and  vividness  of  the  narrative  and 
the  abundance  of  minute  personal  d'fetail  compel  us  to  see 
in  the  author  one  who  either  himself  played  a  part  in  the 
events  he  so  graphically  records,  or  has  derived  his  infor- 
mation, at  first  hand,  from  those  whose  names  are  for 
ever  enshrined  in  his  pages  *. 

The  abruptness  with  which  C  now  opens  at  2  Sam.  ix.  i 
has  been  already  mentioned.  Are  Budde  and  Cornill 
right  in  their  contention  that  C  is  simply  the  continuation 
of  the  other  early  document  which  we  have  termed  M  ? 
There  is  undoubtedly  much  to  be  said  for  this  view.  Few 
readers  would  venture  to  say  that  such  admirably  con- 
ceived chapters  as  i  Sam.  xiv,  xxii,  xxv  and  xxvi  are 
unworthy  to  be  compared  with  the  best  chapters  of  C. 
And  yet  in  other  cases  it  is  difficult  to  escape  the  con- 
clusion that  the  incidents  recorded  reflect  rather  the 
plastic  mould  of  popular  tradition,  and  a  greater  distance 
from  the  events  than  we  find  in  C.  On  the  whole,  there- 
fore, it  is  better  to  leave  the  question  open.  In  any  case 
M  is  also  a  source  of  undoubted  antiquity,  and,  equally 
with  C,  may  confidently  be  assigned  to  the  tenth  century. 

^  See  Klostermann,  Die  Biicher  SamiteJis  mid  Koiu'ge^ 
p.  xxiif.,  for  the  interesting  suggestion  that  the  author  is  no 
other  than  Ahimaaz,  the  son  of  Zadok  who  figures  repeatedly 
in  the  story  of  Absalom's  rebellion.  Duhm,  on  the  other 
band,  regards  the  family  of  Abiathar  (see  on  i  Sam,  xxii.  20) 
as  the  source  of  these  chapters,  an  alternative  preferred  b}' 
Budde  to  the  other  (see  Duhm,  Dasi  Buch  Jemma,  p.  3\ 


22  I   AND   II   SAMUEL 

Allusion  has  just  been  made  to  the  view  of  Budde  and 
Cornill  that  M  and  C  (in  large  part  A  also)  are  one  and 
the  same  document.  This  is  perhaps  the  proper  place 
for  a  reference  to  the  literary  theory  of  Samuel  associated 
with  the  names  of  these  eminent  scholars.  It  is,  in  brief, 
that  the  contents  of  Samuel  have  been  drawn  in  the  main 
from  two  earlier  historical  works  which  practically  cover 
the  same  ground,  after  the  manner  of  the  J  and  E  narra- 
tives of  the  Pentateuch  ^  Indeed  the  scholars  above 
named  go  so  far  as,  if  not  absolutely  to  identify  the  sources 
of  Samuel  with  the  J  and  E  sources  of  the  Hexateuch,  at 
least  to  maintain  that  they  are  the  continuation  of  the  latter^ 
(roughly,  Budde's  J=our  A,  M,  C  ;  his  E  =  our  S,  D,  T). 

{d)  The  appendix,  2  Sam.  xxi-xxiv.  Of  the  six  parts 
or  sections  of  this  appendix  (for  the  contents,  see  page  6), 
the  first  and  sixth,  the  story  of  the  three  years'  famine 

'  The  same  view,  practically,  is  advocated  by  H.  P.  Smith 
in  his  Commentary  on  Samuel.  The  two  parallel  sources  he 
denotes  by  SI  and  Sm.  Budde  has  also  secured  the  adherence 
of  Driver  in  his  Introduction  and  of  Stenning  in  his  article 
'  Samuel '  in  Hastings'  DB.  iv,  383  ff. 

2  This  theory  of  the  mutual  relation  of  the  various  sources 
which  the  critical  analysis  has  brought  to  light  thus  stands 
in  somewhat  sharp  contrast  to  the  position  adopted  in  the  fore- 
going pages,  which  in  its  essential  features  is  that  of 
Wellhausen,  Kuenen,  Stade,  and  Lohr.  But  not  only  Budde 
but  also  the  other  critics  just  named  seem  to  the  present 
writer  to  base  a  large  part  of  their  analysis  from  i  Sam.  xv 
onwards  on  a  mistaken  view  of  the  relation  between  xvi.  148". 
and  xvii.  i  ff.  In  the  former  passage,  it  is  asserted,  David 
is  a  man  of  mature  age  and  already  a  warrior  of  distinction, 
while  in  the  latter  he  is  but  a  shepherd-boy,  fresh  from  his 
father's  flocks.  Consequently  the  two  passages  and  their 
continuations  must  belong  to  different  sources.  It  will  be 
our  endeavour  in  the  notes  (see  especially  pp.  1 19-122)  to 
show  on  how  insecure  a  foundation  this  supposed  distinction 
rests,  and  that  in  what  appears  to  us  to  be  the  original  form 
of  the  text  no  such  '  irreconcilable '  difference  is  to  be  found. 
For  the  further  question  of  the  presence  of  J  and  E  in  Samuel 
see  the  unfavourable  verdicts  of  Kittel  {Studien  nnd  Kritiken, 
1892,  61  ff.)  and  Smith  {Journ,  of  Bib.  Literature^  xv  (1896),  r  ff. 


INTRODUCTION  23 

and  that  of  the  three  days'  pestilence,  are  closely  con- 
nected both  in  style  and  contents  (see  the  notes  on  each). 
The  incidents  of  both,  moreover,  must  be  assigned  to  the 
early  part  of  David's  reign,  but  for  various  reasons  it  is 
unlikely  that  they  form  part  of  either  of  our  two  earliest 
sources.  In  the  commentary  they  are  grouped  among  the 
other  miscellaneous  additions  (Z),  the  question  of  their 
date  being  left  undetermined. 

Between  these  two  cognate  sections  there  seems  to 
have  been  driven,  first  of  all,  a  wedge  in  the  shape  of  a 
list  of  David's  heroes  with  some  achievements  of  the 
more  celebrated.  This  list,  in  its  turn,  was  rent  in  two 
by  the  further  insertion  of  the  much  later  poetical  pieces 
(xxii  and  xxiii.  1-7).  The  two  lists  thus  created,  now 
found  in  xxi.  15-22  and  xxiii.  8-39,  are  generally  admitted 
to  contain  ancient  ^nd  genuine  historical  material  (see 
e.g.  the  note  on  xxi.  19).  Inasmuch  as  the  exploits  re- 
corded seem  to  belong  almost  exclusively  to  the  period 
of  David's  early  struggles  with  the  Philistines,  of  which 
M  has  preserved  a  fragmentary  record  in  2  Sam.  v.  17-25, 
it  is  highly  probable  that  the  lists  in  question  stood  origin- 
ally in  that  early  source  (see  further  on  2  Sam.  v.  17). 

All  that  is  necessary  to  be  said  on  the  subject  of 
David's  Thanksgiving  Hymn  and  his  '  Last  Words '  will 
be  found  in  the  notes. 

V.    The  Deuteronomic  Edition  of  Samuel*. 

It  remains  now  to  present  a  brord  constructive  view, 
omitting  all  details,  of  the  process  by  which  the  Book  of 
Samuel  took  shape  at  the  hands  of  its  Deuteronomic 
editor,  as  this  may  be  inferred  from  the  internal  evidence 
of  the  book  itself.  Among  the  most  precious  of  the  literary 
treasures  which  the  Exiles  carried  with  them  to  their  new 
homes  *  by  the  rivers  of  Babylon '  were  two  historical 

'  Cf.  what  has  been  said  under  section  iii  of  the  aims  and 
methods  of  this  school. 


24  I   AND   II   SAMUEL 

works  dating  from  the  first  century  of  the  monarchy  (C 
and  M),  each  of  which  had  David  for  its  theme.  Or  it 
may  be  that  these  had  long  since  been  joined  together, 
if  indeed  they  had  not  been  one  from  the  outset.  The 
first-fruits  of  the  new  school  of  historians  had  already 
appeared.  This  was  the  first  edition  of  Kings,  giving  the 
history  of  the  kingdoms  of  Judah  and  Israel  from  the 
accession  of  Solomon  (see  Skinner,  Kings,  i8fif.),  for 
which  its  editor  had  appropriated,  as  a  suitable  introduc- 
tion, the  original  close  of  the  court  memoirs  of  David 
(l  Kings  i-ii,  from  C).  For  a  whole  generation,  if  the 
date  above  suggested  (p.  1 8)  for  l  Sam.  vii  and  xii  be 
accepted,  men  were  content,  as  well  they  might,  with  the 
history  of  the  early  monarchy  as  told  by  M  and  C.  But 
towards  the  close  of  the  Exile  a  Deuteronomic  writer, 
imbued  with  the  theocratic  ideas  of  the  time,  worked  up 
the  still  floating  traditions  of  Samuel's  age  into  a  new 
treatise  (our  D)  on  the  introduction  of  the  monarchy,  re- 
presenting it  as  a  breach  of  the  divinely-ordained  plan  of 
a  permanent  theocracy  for  Israel  \ 

This  apology  for  the  theocracy  a  redactor  (R),  domin- 
ated like  all  his  school  by  a  high  religious  purpose, 
set  himself  to  work  into  the  older  history,  prefixing  the 
introductory  sections  (i  Sam.  i-vi)  from  S  and  A^  But 
just  as  the  Deuteronomic  editor  of  Judges  is  understood 
to  have  omitted  from  his  work  such  unsuitable  or  un- 
edifying  portions  as  Judges  ix,  xvi,  and  xvii-xxi  ^,  so  our 
editor  seems  to  have  omitted  from  his  edition  i  Sam. 
xxviii.  3fTf.,  and  the  whole  of  2  Sam.  ix-xx,  as  from  the 
nature  of  their  contents  less  suitable  for  the  religious  and 
moral  edification  of  his  readers.  In  place  of  the  latter  he 
substituted  the  summary  of  David's  reign  now  appearing 


^  For  the  contents  and  original  order  of  D  see  above,  p.  r6  f., 
and  below,  p.  74, 

^  This,  however,  may  have  been  already  done. 

^  See  the  writer's  Joshua  and  Judges  (Temple  Bt'b/e), 
p.  xxii. 


INTRODUCTION  25 

as  ch.  viii,  with  which  his  work  concluded^  (for  the  kin- 
dred sections,  iii.  2-5,  v,  13-16,  see  p.  5  and  the  note, 
p.  229).  A  briefer  summary  (i  Sam.  xiv.  17-51),  in  the 
same  way,  took  the  place  of  a  fuller  record  of  Saul's 
campaigns  which  M  may  have  once  contained.  In  addi- 
tion to  such  larger  insertions  as  I  Sam.  ii.  27-36  and 
2  Sam.  vii,  a  number  of  smaller  additions  likewise  betray 
the  hand  of  the  Deuteronomic  editor,  such  as  the  brief 
chronological  notices,  i  Sam.  iv.  18,  2  Sam.  v.  4f  These 
minor  additions  have  been  pointed  out  in  the  notes. 

VI.    The  Post-Deuteronomic  Redaction  and 
Later  Additions. 

The  Book  of  Judges  once  more  affords  a  parallel  to 
the  literary  history  of  Samuel.  There  a  later  and  more 
liberal  editor  restored  the  parts  omitted  by  his  predecessor 
and  gave  to  the  Book  of  Judges  its  present  form.  In  the 
same  way  the  precious  court  memoirs  were  restored,  and 
the  close  of  the  new  and  enlarged  Samuel  indicated  by 
the  repetition  of  the  last  verses  of  the  Denteronoimc 
edition  (xx.  23-26  =  viii.  i6-i8)^  The  dates  at  which 
the  appendix  gradually  took  shape  cannot  be  determined. 
This  applies  also  to  the  various  late  insertions  in  the 
style  of  the  Jewish  Midrash  (edifying  expansions  or  alter- 
ations of  the  older  text  such  as  i  Sam.  xix.  18-24,  xxi. 
10-15),  the  Song  of  Hannah  (i  Sam.  ii.  i-io),  and  the 
other  passages  denoted  throughout  by  Z.  Latest  of  all 
must  be  put  the  extensive  additions  in  i  Sam.  xvii  and 
xviii  which  had  not  yet  found  a  place  in  the  Hebrew  text 
that  lay  before  the  Greek  translators  circa  200  B.  c. 

Three  stages,  therefore,  are  distinctly  traceable  in  the 
literary  history  of  the  canonical  Book  of  Samuel  — a  pre- 
Deuteronomic  stage,  in  which  the  sources  circulated  as 
independent   documents,    a    Deuteronomic   edition,  pre- 

'  This  was  first  advanced  and  made  probable  by  Budde. 
"  So  Budde,  whose   theory  of  the  two  editions  and  their 
mutual  relation  is  now  generally  accepted. 


26  I   AND   II   SAMUEL 

pared  towards  the  close  of  the  Exile,  and  the  final  or  post- 
Deuteronomic  edition,  which  for  perhaps  two  centuries 
continued  to  receive  minor  additions  to  its  contents  \ 

VII.    The  Text  of  Samuel  and  the  Value  of 
THE  Greek  Version. 

The  text  of  Samuel  is  considered  by  competent 
authorities  to  be  the  worst  preserved  in  the  O.  T.  with 
the  possible  exception  of  the  text  of  Ezekiel.  Nor  is  this 
surprising  when  one  considers  the  great  age  of  its  main 
sources,  and  the  popularity  which  they  must  have  enjoyed, 
both  while  circulating  as  independent  works  and  as  com- 
bined into  one  whole.  The  more  frequently  a  work  is 
copied  the  more  numerous  the  mistakes  in  the  later  copies 
are  sure  to  be.  Now,  as  our  O.  T.  Revisers  have  reminded 
us  in  their  preface,  *  the  Received,  or,  as  it  is  commonly 
called,  the  Massoretic  Text  of  the  O.  T.  Scriptures,  has 
come  down  to  us  in  manuscripts  which  are  of  no  very 
great  antiquity,  and  which  all  belong  to  the  same  family 
or  recension^.'  Indeed  most  modern  Hebraists  are  of 
opinion  that  all  existing  MSS.  of  the  O.  T.  have  been  de- 
rived from  a  single  MS.  of  a  date  not  earlier  than  the 
first  or  second  century  of  our  era.  In  these  circumstances 
it  is  matter  for  congratulation  that  we  have  in  the  Greek 
Version  of  '  the  Seventy '  or  Septuagint  (LXX)  ^  an  in- 
dependent witness  to  the  text  of  Samuel  as  it  circulated 
about  the  year  200  B.  c.  By  its  aid  it  has  been  found 
possible  in  almost  every  chapter  of  Samuel  to  restore,  or  at 
least  improve,  passages  that  are  unintelligible  or  confused 
in  the  Hebrew,  a  fact  of  which  illustrations  in  abundance 

^  Three  similar  stages  may  be  traced  for  Joshua  and  Judges 
(see  the  Temple  Bible,  pp.  ixff,,  xixff.). 

"^  *  The  earliest  MS.  of  which  the  age  is  certainly  known 
bears  date  a.  d.  916'  (Revisers'  footnote). 

^  For  the  fullest  information  regarding  the  LXX  and  the 
principles  which  should  regulate  its  use  in  the  criticism  of  the 
Hebrew  Text,  see  Swete's  Introduction  to  the  O.  T.  in  Greek-, 
Driver's  Notes,  xxxvi  ff. ;  H.  P.  Smith,  Samuel,  395  ff. 


INTRODUCTION  27 

will  be  found  in  the  following  pages.  In  this  work  of 
textual  emendation,  by  the  help  of  the  LXX  in  particular, 
Thenius,  Wellhausen,  Klostermann,  and  Driver — the  last 
named  in  his  invaluable  Notes  o?t  the  Hebrew  Text  of  the 
Books  of  Samuel — have  rendered  conspicuous  service. 

In  several  instances  it  can  be  shown  from  the  LXX 
that  the  obscurity  of  the  received  text  has  arisen  from 
what  is  technically  known  as  homoeoteleuto7t  (Gk.  o/uotore- 
\rorov).  When  a  particular  word  or  phrase  stood  in  two 
consecutive  lines,  particularly  if  at  or  near  the  end, 
the  eye  of  the  copyist  sometimes  wandered  from  the  one 
occurrence  of  the  word  to  the  other,  omitting  all  that 
stood  between.  In  this  way  one  or  even  two  lines  have 
disappeared  from  the  j\ISS,  of  the  Massoretic  text. 
Examples  will  be  found  in  i  Sam.  x.  i,  21,  xiv.  41 
(a  case  of  double  ho7noeotelet(to7i)^  2  Sam.  xiii.  27,  34,  and 
elsewhere  ^.  The  most  interesting  of  all  the  textual  prob- 
lems raised  by  the  divergent  witness  of  the  LXX  in  the 
Book  of  Samuel  will  be  found  stated  and  discussed  in  the 
notes  on  i  Sam.  xvii.  I~xviii.  5  (pp.  120  fif.). 

The  texts  to  which  reference  is  most  frequently  made 
in  the  notes  are  those  of  the  Codex  Vaticanus,  cited  as 
LXX  (B),  as  printed  in  Swete's  standard  edition  of  the 
Septuagint,  and  of  Lucian's  recension  ^,  cited  as  Lucian 
or  as  LXX  (L),  edited  by  Lagarde  in  his  Libforton  Vet. 
Test.  Pars  Prior  Graece  (1883). 

VIII.    The  Historical  Value  of  the  Book 

OF  Samuel. 
The  historical  value  of  the  Book  of  Samuel,  as  of  every 
other  ancient  historical  work,  must  be  measured  by  the 

*  It  will  be  found,  when  the  omitted  lines  are  re-translated 
into  Hebrew,  that  '  the  roll  of  the  book' from  which  the  oldest 
Greek  translation  was  made  can  be  proved  to  have  been 
written  in  columns,  each  line  of  which  contained  from  2T-23 
letters. 

*  For  which  see  Swete's  Inttoduciion,  pp.  8i  ff. 


28  I   AND   II   SAMUEL 

age  and  trustworthiness  of  the  sources  from  which  its 
material  is  derived.  In  the  case  before  us,  it  has  been 
repeatedly  shown  that  the  oldest  parts  of  Samuel  are  but 
little  younger  than  the  events  they  record.  The  court 
memoirs  of  David,  in  particular,  have  been  subjected  to 
the  test  of  the  most  searching  criticism  and  have  emerged 
as  a  document  of  the  first  rank  in  the  historical  literature 
of  antiquity.  In  both  C  and  M,  at  least,  the  student  of 
Hebrew  history  may  rest  assured  that  he  possesses 
a  trustworthy  record  of  the  early  monarchy  and  of  the 
circumstances  that  gave  it  birth.  In  the  later  prophetic 
biography  of  Samuel  (S)  we  have  also  historical  material, 
although  not  in  so  pure  a  form  as  in  the  older  sources. 
Even  as  regards  the  theocratic  sections,  the  student  who 
has  a  true  sense  of  the  deeper  significance  of  Israel's 
history  will  not  fail  to  do  justice  to  the  philosophy  of 
history  which  underlies  them  (cf.  on  i  Sam.  xii.  14]. 

In  Samuel,  further,  the  student  has  access  to  an 
incomparable  gallery  of  historical  portraits.  One  thinks, 
first  of  all,  of  David,  whom  a  consummate  literary  artist 
has  painted  to  the  life.  Where  in  the  whole  range  of 
ancient  literature  is  there  a  character  whom  we  know  as 
intimately  as  we  know  '  the  darling  of  the  songs  of  Israel ' 
(2  Sam.  xxiii.  i)  ?  Here  is  a  man  alike  distinguished  in 
the  arts  of  peace  and  of  war,  a  man  who  knew,  as  scarcely 
another  in  history,  the  secret  of  winning  the  selfless  de- 
votion of  his  friends.  While  utterly  loyal  in  his  friend- 
ships, David  extended  to  his  personal  enemies  a  for- 
bearance all  too  rare  in  those  early  days.  As  in  all  great 
men,  the  elemental  human  passions  were  strong  in  the 
son  of  Jesse,  and  have  left  at  least  one  dark  stain  on  his 
memory.  Nor  can  his  culpable  remissness  as  a  parent 
be  excused.  Yet  all  this  is  forgotten  in  the  recollection 
of  the  other  and  better  David,  who  at  every  turn  asked 
to  know  the  will  of  Yahweh  and  strove  to  do  it,  and 
whose  serene  trust  in  his  God  even  in  the  darkest  hour  is 
here  for  all  to  read. 


INTRODUCTION  29 

How  skilfully,  again,  does  the  artist  portray  the 
gradual  deterioration  in  the  character  of  the  vain  and 
ambitious  Absalom  !  We  still  can  see  the  scowl  that  rested 
on  that  fair  but  sullen  face  for  '  two  full  years '  as  he 
waited  for  the  hour  of  his  revenge  (2  Sam.  xiii.  23,  32, 
emended  text).  And  what  shall  we  say  of  Saul  the 
patriot  and  victim  of  a  mind  diseased,  of  the  brave 
unselfish  Jonathan,  of  the  masterful  Joab  and  the  impul- 
sive Abishai,  of  Hushai  and  Ahithophel,  not  to  speak 
of  the  pious  Hannah,  the  prudent  Abigail,  the  devoted 
Rizpah,  and  the  other  immortal  figures  that  pass  before 
us  ?  One's  chief  regret  must  ever  be  that  the  cross-lights 
of  Hebrew  tradition  have  made  it  difficult  to  fix  the  por- 
trait of  Samuel  himself.  But  is  not  this  variety  of 
tradition  itself  a  tribute  to  the  greatness  of  the  man  and 
his  life-work  ? 

For  the  student  of  early  Hebrew  religion  the  Book  of 
Samuel  is  of  paramount  importance.  It  is  not  too  much 
to  say  that  the  study  of  this  book  has  contributed  more 
than  anything  else  to  the  more  accurate  views  of  the 
historical  development  of  religious  thought  in  O.  T.  times, 
which  are  characteristic  of  the  present  day.  The  subject 
is  too  large  for  adequate  treatment  here.  Only  one  or  two 
outstanding  points  can  be  mentioned,  and  that  briefly. 

In  the  first  place  we  see  how  firmly  established  in  Israel 
was  the  central  thought  of  the  Mosaic  teaching,  that 
Yahweh  was  the  God  of  Israel  and  Israel  the  people  of 
Yahweh.  So  literally,  indeed,  is  this  belief  reflected  in 
our  oldest  sources,  that  David  can  conceive  of  no  greater 
calamity  than  to  be  driven  forth  from  the  fellowship  of 
Israel,  *  the  inheritance  of  Yahweh,'  to  *  serve  other  gods ' 
(l  Sam.  xxvi.  19).  Beyond  the  limits  of  Canaan,  Yahweh's 
land,  other  deities  held  sway,  who  claimed  the  allegiance 
and  worship  of  all  who  dwelt  within  their  territory. 
Between  this  primitive  particularism  and  the  attitude  to 
the  gods  of  the  heathen  reflected  in  i  Sam.  xii.  2i  lie 
many  centuries  of  the  progress  of  revelation. 


3©  I   AND   II   SAMUEL 

Similar  primitive  traits  are  discernible  in  the  character 
of  Yahweh,  whose  actions  are  often  inscrutable  and  even 
arbitrary  (see  on  2  Sam.  xxiv.  i).  Yet  the  God  of  even 
our  oldest  sources  is  a  God  of  justice  and  righteousness, 
the  Guardian  of  morality  (2  Sam.  xi.  27  ff.)  and  the  Avenger 
of  a  broken  covenant  (xxi.  i  ff.). 

In  this  connexion  one  recalls  the  light  which  is  thrown 
by  the  narratives  of  Samuel  on  such  important  adjuncts 
of  worship  as  the  Ark,  the  ephod-oracle  of  Urim  and 
Thummim  and  the  Teraphim.  To  these  may  be  added, 
in  the  sphere  of  social  life,  the  institution  of  the  ban,  the 
abstinence  from  blood,  the  war-taboos,  and  many  more, 

A  mere  reference  must  suffice  for  such  subjects  of  sur- 
passing importance  for  the  study  of  the  O.  T.  as  the 
emergence  for  the  first  time  into  the  light  of  history  of  the 
prophetic  order  (i  Sam.  x.  5),  the  consecration  of  the  site 
of  the  future  temple,  the  illustrations  of  the  Messianic 
Hope  and  of  the  ideas  of  the  after-life  among  the 
shadows  of  Sheol,  or  even,  it  may  be,  a  hint  of  a  future 
resurrection  (see  on  i  Sam.  ii.  6)  \ 

IX.  The  Chronology  of  the  Book. 

Samuel  differs  in  a  marked  degree  from  Judges  and 
Kings  in  the  absence  of  a  regular  chronological  scheme. 
It  is  evident,  however,  that  the  period  covered  by  the 
book  is  practically  equivalent  to  the  long  life  of  Samuel 
(cf.  I  Sam.  xxviii.  14),  with  David's  reign  of  forty 
years  in  addition,  in  all  rather  more  than  a  hundred 
years.  This  is  confirmed  by  the  repeated  references  to 
the  descendants  of  Eli,  of  whom  we  can  trace  no  fewer 
than  five  generations,  ending  with  the  youthful  Jonathan, 
the  son  of  Abiathar  (i  Sam.  xiv.  3,  xxii.  18,  2  Sam.  xv.  27)."^ 

^  See  the  Index  for  references  to  the  foregoing. 

^  This  argument  that  five  generations  represent  a  period  of 
over  a  century  is  based  on  the  fact  that,  in  the  350  years  from 
Rehoboam  to  the  Exile,  seventeen  monarchs  in  direct  descent 


INTRODUCTION  31 

For  the  later  part  of  this  period  we  have  the  trustworthy 
editorial  note,  2  Sam.  v.  4  f.  (which  see),  and  several  in- 
valuable data  in  2  Sam.  xiii  fif.  Assuming  that  Solomon 
reigned  from  970  B.  c.  (cf.  Skinner's  tables  in  his  Kings), 
David  ascended  the  throne  of  Judah  in  loio,  and  that  of  all 
Israel  1003-02.  Since  Amnon  and  Absalom,  both  born 
before  1003  (see  2  Sam.  iii.  2),  are  grown'up  in  ch.  xiii,  we 
may  place  the  episode  of  this  chapter  circa  985.  Between 
this  point  and  Absalom's  rebellion  eleven  years  elapsed 
(xiii.  23,  38,  xiv.  28,  XV.  27  marg.),  bringing  us  down  to 
circa  ^y/^.  In  the  following  four  years  will  fall  the  incidents 
of  the  Great  Rebellion,  Sheba's  abortive  insurrection 
(ch.  xx),  and  the  events  of  i  Kings  i,  a  period  of  time  by  no 
means  too  large  (note  the  change  in  David,  I  Kings  i.  i). 

As  regards  the  reign  of  Saul  we  are  less  fortunate. 
The  chronological  scheme  in  1  Sam.  xiii.  i  has  unfortu- 
nately been  left  a  blank  (see  p.  96).  Since  the  estimate 
of  David's  forty  years'  reign  (2  Sam  v.  4  f.)  has  just  proved 
itself  correct ^  the  accompanying  statement  that  he  was 
thirty  years  of  age  at  his  accession  must  also  be  accepted. 
Now  if  we  assume  that  Jonathan  was  approximately  of 
the  same  age— he  must  have  been,  by  a  few  years,  the 
elder  of  the  two— and  bear  in  mind  that  he  was  at  least 
from  eighteen  to  twenty  years  of  age  at  the  beginning  of  his 
father's  reign  (i  Sam.  xiii.  2),  we  are  compelled  to  limit  that 
reign  to  some  fifteen  years  at  most,  from  ±  1025-1010  ^. 

For  the  preceding  period  the  materials  for  a  trust- 
worthy estimate  are  entirely  wanting  (see  on  iii.  i,  iv.  15, 
18,  vii.  2).  It  can  only  be  said  that  the  birth  of  Samuel 
must  fall  somewhere  in  the  neighbourhood  of  1080-75  B.  c. 

occupied  the  throne  of  Judah  (c.  933-586).  This  gives  21  years 
as  the  average  age  of  the  father  at  the  birth  of  his  eldest  son. 

'  Kautzsch  {Literature  of  the  O.T.,  172  ff.),  followed  by 
Driver  (article  'Chronology  (Biblical),'  Eucycl,  Brit.'^,  xxvii. 
10),  allows  David  a  reign  of  only  30  years  (c.  1000-970),  but  this 
the  data  above  given  clearly  prove  to  be  some  years  too  short. 

^  Contrast  the  forty  years  of  Acts  xiii.  21,  and  Josephus 
Antiq.  vi.  14.  9,  a  period,  for  many  reasons,  much  too  long. 


32  I   AND   II   SAMUEL 

Notation  of  the  Sources  and  Abbreviations  of 
THE  Titles  of  Works  frequently  cited. 

C  The  Memoirs  of  David's  Court  (see  pp.  20  ff.}. 
M  The  History  of  the  Introduction  of  the  il/onarchy  and  of 
Saul  and  David  to  the  establishment  of  Jerusalem  as  the 
civil  and  religious  centre  of  the  kingdom  (pp.  16  ff.). 

A  A  fragment  of  a  History  of  the  Ar^,  or,  it  may  be,  of  the 
Philistine  oppression  (p.  18).  These  three  may  v^^ell 
date  from  the  latter  half  of  the  tenth  century  b.  c. — 
C  from  circa  950  b.  c,  M,  c.  920 — if  they  did  not  originally 
form  parts  of  a  single  work  (in  this  case  i  Sam.  xxvii. 
6''  will  be  a  later  gloss). 

S  A  Biography  of  Samuel  the  Prophet,  pre-Deuteronomic 
(i.  e.  before  620),  but  perhaps  not  earlier  than  630  (see 
p.  18  and  the  ref.  there). 

T  Various  Traditional  elements,  mostly  variants  of  incidents 
recorded  in  M  (p.  20). 

D  Various  contributions  from  writers  of  the  Z^euteronomic 
school  (sect,  iii),  notably  the  apology  for  the  theocracy 
(I  Sam.  vii  ff.),  from  the  latter  half  of  the  Exile  (pp.  16  ff., 

?  I  Sam.  xiii.  7''-i5*  (see  p.  98),  a  passage  of  uncertain 
affinities  and  date. 

Z  A  symbol  for  passages  of  the  most  various  origins  and 
dates,  which  there  is  reason  to  believe  formed  no  part  gf 
the  first  edition  of  Samuel  (pp.  19,  23,  25). 

R  denotes  the  hand  of  a  Compiler  or /Redactor  (pp.  19,  24  ff.). 


DB.  Yi&stm^s'  Dictionary  of  the  Bible. 

EBi,  Cheyne  and  Black's  Encyclopaedia  Biblica. 

BDB.  Hebrew  and  English  Lexicon,  edited  by  Brown, 
Driver  and  Briggs. 

LOT^.  Driver's  Introduction,  6th  edition  (see  p.  326). 

OTJCK  and  Rel.  Sent-".  W.  Robertson  Smith's  Old  Test. 
in  the  Jewish  Church  and  Religion  of  the  Semites,  2nd  editions. 

KA  T^.  Die  Keilinschriften  und  das  Alte  Testament,  3rd  edition 
(edited  by  Winckler  and  Zimmern). 

PEFQSt.  The  Palestine  Exploration  Fupid  Quarterly  Statements. 

LXX  (B),  LXX  (L),  the  Vatican  Codex  and  Lucian's  recen- 
sion of  the  Septuagint  (see  p.  27"^. 

M.  T,  The  Massoretic  or  Received  Hebrew  Text  (see  p.  36). 


THE  BOOK  OF  SAMUEL 


REVISED  VERSION   WITH   ANNOTATIONS 


THE 

FIRST   BOOK  OF  SAMUEL 

[S]  Now   there  was  a  certain   man  of  Ramathaim- 1 
zophim,  of  the  hill  country  of  Ephraim,  and  his  name 

First  Division,     t  Samuel  I — XIV. 

Samuel  and  Saul. 

A.  i-vii.      The  Early  Life  and  Judgeship  of  Samuel, 

The  contents  of  the  Books  of  Samuel  fall  into  three  parts  or 
divisions,  followed  by  an  appendix  (see  the  Introduction  to  this 
Commentary,  section  ii).  The  first  of  these  parts  or  divisions, 
I  Sam.  i-xiv,  comprises  three  subdivisions,  the  extent  and  con- 
tents of  which  have  already  been  given.  The  first  subdivision, 
embracing  chapters  i-vii,  may,  in  its  turn,  be  conveniently  divided 
into  three  sections  : — (rt)  i.  i-iv.  i%  the  birth,  dedication,  and  call 
of  Samuel  ;  {b)  iv.  i^-vii.  i,  the  invasion  of  the  Philistines,  followed 
by  the  capture  and  return  of  the  Ark;  (c)  vii.  2-17,  Samuel,  as 
judge,  delivers  Israel  from  the  Philistines. 

(«)  i.  i-iv.  I*.     The  birth,  dedication,  and  call  of  Samuel. 

The  prayer  of  Hannah,  the  childless  wife  of  Elkanah,  for  a  son 
is  answered.  He  is  named  Samuel,  and  while  still  a  child  is  dedi- 
cated to  the  service  of  Yahweh,  and  placed  in  charge  of  Eli,  the 
chief  priest  of  the  sanctuary  at  Shiloh.  When  on  the  verge  of 
adolescence  Samuel  receives  the  Divine  call  to  the  prophetic 
office.  As  later  additions  'see  below  to  this  idyllic  narrative  are 
included  the  Song  of  Hannah  (ii.  i-io)  and  the  first  announce- 
ment by  an  anonymous  prophet  of  the  impending  fate  of  Eli  and 
his  house  (ii.  27-36). 

1.  Bamatliaiin-zophim :  as  a  place-name  this  form  is  inde- 
fensible. Elsewhere  the  name  of  Samuel's  birthplace  and  later 
home  is  Ramah  (i.  19,  ii.  11,  &c.).  We  must  therefore  read 
either:  *a  certain  man  of  Ramah,  a  Zuphite,'  or  'a  certain  man 
of  the  Ramathites,  a^Zuphite.'  That  Ramah  lay  in  'the  land  of 
Zuph '  is  evident  from  ix.  5.  Samuel  is  here  clearly  an  Ephraimite 
by  descent.  Later  genealogists,  for  dogmatic  reasons,  made  him 
a  member  of  the  tribe  of  Levi  (i  Chron.  vi.  33-35  ;  cf.  26-28). 
The  situation  of  Ramah — lit.  'the  high   (place)' — is  uncertain. 

D    2 


36  I   SAMUEL  1.  2,  ?,.     S 

was  Elkanah,  the  son  of  Jeroham,  the  son  of  Elihu,  the 

2  son  of  Tohu,  the  son  of  Zuph,  an  Ephraimite :  and  he 
had  two  wives ;  the  name  of  the  one  was  Hannah,  and 
the  name  of  the  other  Peninnah :   and  Peninnah  had 

3  children,  but  Hannah  had  no  children.  And  this  man 
went  up  out  of  his  city  from  year  to  year  to  worship  and 
to  sacrifice  unto  the  Lord  of  hosts  in  Shiloh.     And  the 

By  most  recent  authorities  it  is  identified  with  the  modern  Beif 
Ri'ma,  which  lies  on  a  hill  about  thirteen  miles  north-east  of 
Lydda,  and  twelve  miles  west  of  Seihin,  the  ancient  Shiloh.  In 
this  case  Ramah  will  have  lain  near  the  western  edge  of  the 
central  highlands  of  Palestine,  which  are  termed  in  the  O.T.  'the 
hill  country  of  Ephraim.' 

2.  For  a  well-to-do  citizen  to  have  two  wives  of  equal  status 
was  evidently  not  uncommon  in  early  times  (cf.  Gen.  xxix.  28  ff., 
and  especially  the  law  of  Deut.  xxi.  15  ff.),  more  particularly  if 
the  first  was  childless.  The  incidents  here  recorded  (verses  6ff.) 
were  only  too  often  paralleled,  we  may  be  sure,  in  other  house- 
holds. 

Hannah  .  .  .  Peninnah :    the  former   signifies    Grace,    the 
latter  Coral,  less  probably  Pearl. 

3.  the  IiOBD  of  hosts :  this,  the  most  majestic  of  the  Divine 
titles,  and  here  first  met  with  in  the  canonical  books,  is  specially 
frequent  in  the  prophetical  writings  of  the  O.T. — not,  however,  in 
all — and  occUrs  eleven  times  in  the  Books  of  Samuel.  In  A.V.  and 
R.V.  Lord  in  small  capitals  is  used  to  represent  the  personal 
name  of  the  covenant  God  of  Israel.  Owing  on  the  one  hand  to 
Hebrew  having  been  originally  written  with  consonants  onl}',  and 
on  the  other  to  the  fact  that  in  the  post-exilic  period  the  Jews, 
from  motives  of  reverence,  ceased  to  pronounce  the  'ineffable 
name,'  the  original  pronunciation  of  the  latter  has  been  lost. 
Wherever  it  occured,  with  certain  exceptions,  they  substituted 
the  word  Adonai,  Lord.  Influenced  by  the  same  motives,  the 
Greek  translators  (c.  250  b.  c.)  set  the  example  of  inserting  the 
rendering  of  Adonai,  viz.  Kurios,  hence  the  Latin  Doniiniis, 
and  the  English  Lord.  The  consonants  of  the  tetragrammaton 
(four-letter  word),  as  it  is  called,  may  be  represented  by  YHWH 
(otherwise  IHVH),  which  a  variety  of  evidence  leads  us  to  con- 
clude was  pronounced  YaHWeH.  The  familiar  pronunciation 
Jehovah  (I^HoV«H),  which  is  not  older  than  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, is  due  to  an  unfortunate  attempt  to  combine  the  original 
consonants  with  the  vowels  of  Adonai.  As  to  the  signification 
of  Yahweh,  modern  scholars  are  mostly  divided  between  •  He  that 


I   SAMUEL  1.3.     S  37 

two  sons  of  Eli,  Hophni  and  Phinehas,  priests  unto  the 

is,'  i.e.  'the  self-existent  One'  (see  Exod.  iii.  14),  and  ^  He  that 
causes  to  be/  the  Life-giver,  Creator. 

With  regard  to  the  original  meaning  of  the  compound  title, 
'Lord  of  hosts'  or  armies,  in  Heb.  Yahweh  SebcVoth — admittedly 
a  contraction  of  the  fuller  'Yahweh,  the  God  of  hosts'  (Amos 
vi.  14  ;  Hos.  xii.  5) — a  similar  divergence  of  opinion  still  prevails. 
Most  probably  this  title  had  its  origin  in  the  association  of  Yahweh 
with  the  early  conquests  of  His  people,  by  whom  Yahv^eh  was 
regarded  as  peculiarly  a  God  of  vx^ar  (note  especially  i  Sam.  xvii. 
45,  where  Yahweh  Sebaoth  is  defined  as  '  the  God  of  the  armies 
of  Israel,'  and  cf.  Num.  xxi.  14,  '  the  book  of  the  wars  of  Yahweh '). 
Those  who  advocate  this  view  also  point  to  the  frequent  associa- 
tion, in  the  Books  of  Samuel  especially  (i  Sam.  iv.  4  ;  2  Sam.  vi. 
2,  &c.),  of  this  title  with  the  sacred  Ark,  which  in  early  times 
often  — originally,  perhaps,  on  all  occasions — accompanied  the 
armies  of  Israel  to  battle  (cf.  the  early  passages  Num.  x.  35  f.; 
Josh.  vi.  4  f.  ;  I  Sam.  iv.  3ff.  ;  2  Sam.  xi.  11). 

In  later  and  more  peaceful  times  the  title  would  suggest  rather 
the  hosts  or  armies  of  heaven,  both  angels  and  stars  ;  and  even  if 
the  explanation  just  given  be  regarded  as  giving  the  historical 
genesis  of  the  title,  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  reference  to  the 
hosts  of  heaven,  which  some  authorities  regard  as  the  earlier  and 
original,  is  that  which  dominates  the  prophetic  usage  of  the  title. 
Even  in  the  earliest  of  the  prophets,  Amos  and  Hosea,  Yahweh 
Sebaoth  has  become  practically  a  proper  name,  denoting  Yahweh 
as  the  supreme  controller  of  the  spiritual  and  material  forces  of 
the  universe,  a  signification  aptly  brought  out  by  one  of  the 
Greek  renderings  of  the  title,  Kurios  Pantokrator,  '  the  Lord  All- 
sovereign.'  In  the  N.  T.  it  occurs  in  the  form  Kurios  Sabaoth, 
E. VV.,  'the  Lord  of  Sabaoth,'  Rom.  ix.  29  (a  quotation  from  the 
LXX),  Jas.  V.  4.  See  further  Encyclopaedia  Biblica  {EBi.),  article, 
'  Names,'  §  123;  Driver  in  Hastings'  Didy.  of  the  Bible  {DB.),  iii. 
137  f'J  aiid  Kautzsch,  ibid.,  extra  volume,  636  fF. 

Shiloh :  now  Seihcn,  about  nine  and  a  half  miles  north-east 
oi  Beitin  the  ancient  Beth-el  (see  Judges  xxi.  19).  At  this  period 
Shiloh  derived  its  importance  as  the  principal  sanctuary  of  Central 
Palestine,  at  least,  from  the  presence  of  the  Ark,  which  was 
housed,  as  shown  in  the  sequel,  not  in  a  tent  or  tabernacle,  but 
in  a  substantial  structure,  here  called  a  *  temple '  (i.  9,  iii.  3),  the 
'house  of  Yahweh'  (i.  7,  24),  with  doors  (iii.  15")  and  door-posts 
(i.  9).  This  sanctuary  appears  to  have  been  destroyed  by  the 
Philistines  after  their  victory  (iv.  lof.),  as  the  successors  of  Eli 
in  the  priesthood  are  found  later  at  Nob  (xxi.  i  ff.  ;  cf.  also 
Jer.  vii.  12).  The  representation  of  the  later  priestly  historians 
that  the  gorgeous  tabernacle  of  the  Priests'  Code  (Exod.  kxv  ff.) 


SS  I   SAMUEL  1.  4-8.     S 

4  Lord,  were  there.  And  when  the  day  came  that 
Elkanah  sacrificed,  he  gave  to  Peninnah  his  wife,  and  to 

5  all  her  sons  and  her  daughters,  portions :  but  unto 
Hannah  he  gave  a  double  portion  :  for  he  loved  Hannah, 

6  but  the  Lord  had  shut  up  her  womb.  And  her  rival 
provoked   her  sore,  for  to  make  her  fret,  because  the 

7  Lord  had  shut  up  her  womb.  And  as  he  did  so  year 
by  year,  when  she  went  up  to  the  house  of  the  Lord, 
so  she  provoked  her;  therefore  she  wept,  and  did  not 

8  eat.  And  Elkanah  her  husband  said  unto  her,  Hannah, 
why  weepest  thou  ?   and  why  eatest  thou  not  ?   and  why 


was  set  up  at  Shiloh  (see  note  on  ii.  22),  and  afterwards  removed 
to  Gibeon  (2  Chron.  i.  3),  is  now  regarded  as  unhistorical. 

The  occasion  of  Elkanah's  yearly  visit  was  doubtless  the  great 
autumn  festival  known  as  '  the  Feast  of  Ingathering,'  and  later  as 
'the  Feast  of  Booths  (Tabernacles),'  the  feast  or  pilgrimage />«/■ 
excellence  (i  Kings  viii.  2),  which  was  held  '  at  the  turn  of  the 
year'  (Exod.  xxxiv.  22),  i.  e.  after  the  grape  and  olive  harvests  had 
been  gathered  in  and  the  C3^cle  of  the  year's  agricultural  operations 
completed  (cf,  v.  20,  and  Judges  xxi.  19-22). 

In  2i^  we  expect :  '  Eli  and  his  two  sons  '  (so  LXX\ 

4-7.  The  main  statement  in  these  verses  runs  thus  :  '  And  it 
fell  on  a  day  when  Elkanah  sacrificed  (4*)  .  .  .  that  she  (Hannah) 
wept  and  did  not  eat  (7'').'  The  intervening  sentences  form 
a  long  parenthesis  describing  what  had  regularly  taken  place  in 
former  years.  According  to  early  Hebrew  custom,  after  Yahweh's 
portion  had  been  burned  on  the  altar  (ii.  15  f )  and  the  priests  had 
received  their  share,  the  worshippers,  if  of  one  family,  used  the 
flesh  of  the  victim  to  provide  a  family  meal  within  the  sanctuary 
precincts,  or  a  whole  village  community  might  similarly  unite  in 
the  sacrificial  meal  (ix.  12  fi".).  On  the  presence  of  women  on 
such  occasions,  see  Peritz,  '  Woman  in  the  Ancient  Hebrew  Cult,' 
Jount.  of  Bibl.  Lit.  xvii.  (1898)  rii  ff. 

5.  a  double  portion :  a  token  of  special  honour  and  affection 
(cf.  Benjamin's  fivefold  portion,  Gen.  xliii.  34%  A.  V.  'a  worthy 
portion,'  but  the  Hebrew  text  will  not  bear  either  meaning. 
A  slight  change  of  text  (see  R.  V.  marg.)  gives  :  '  To  Hannah  he 
was  wont  to  give  a  single  portion  ;  howbeit  he  loved  Hannah, 
although  Yahweh  had,'  &c. 

V.  Render  with  change  of  one  letter :  *  And  so  she  (Peninnah) 
did  year  by  year.' 


I   SAMUEL  1.  9-13.     S  39 

is  thy  heart  grieved?  am  not  I  better  to  thee  than  ten 
sons  ?     So   Hannah   rose  up   after   they   had   eaten   in  9 
Shiloh,  and  after  they  had  drunk.     Now  Eli  the  priest 
sat  upon  his  seat  by  the  door  post  of  the  temple  of  the 
Lord.     And  she  was  in  bitterness  of  soul,  and  prayed  10 
unto  the  Lord,  and  wept  sore.     And  she  vowed  a  vow,  n 
and  said,  O  Lord  of  hosts,  if  thou  wilt  indeed  look  on 
the  affliction  of  thine  handmaid,  and  remember  me,  and 
not   forget   thine   handmaid,   but   wilt   give  unto   thine 
handmaid  a  man  child,  then  I  will  give  him  unto  the 
Lord  ail  the  days  of  his  life,  and  there  shall  no  razor 
come  upon   his   head.     And   it  came  to  pass,   as   she  12 
continued  praying  before  the  Lord,  that  Eli  marked  her 
mouth.     Now  Hannah,  she  spake  in  her  heart;  only  her  13 
lips  moved,  but  her  voice  was  not  heard :  therefore  Eli 

9*.  Read,  as  suggested  by  the  LXX  :  '  So  Hannah  rose  up  after 
they  had  eaten,  and  presented  herself  before  Yahweh'  (for  the 
expression,  see  x.  19  ;  Joshua  xxiv.  i).  She  goes  to  cast  her 
heavy  burden  upon  the  Lord  and  to  seek  solace  in  prayer.  '  The 
most  general,  the  most  constant,  and  therefore  the  most  important 
element  in  worship  is  prayer '  (Tiele,  Gifford  Lectures,  ii.  133), 
frequently  in  the  O.  T.  associated,  as  here,  with  a  preceding 
sacrifice.  Of  the  favourite  attitudes  in  prayer,  standing  (Gen. 
xviii.  22  ;  i  Kings  viii.  22,  &c.  ;  cf.  Matt.  vi.  5  ;  Luke  xviii.  11), 
kneeling  (i  Kings  viii.  54  ;  Dan.  vi.  10  ;  Luke  xxii.  41),  and  the 
characteristic  oriental  attitude  of  prostration  i^Gen.  xxiv.  26 ; 
I  Kings  xviii.  42  ;  Neh.  viii.  6),  Hannah  chose  the  first,  standing 
(verse  26)  with  her  face  towards  the  sacred  Ark,  the  visible 
symbol  of  the  presence  of  Yahweh.  So  David  in  his  distress 
went  into  the  tent  which  he  had  prepared  for  the  Ark  ( see  note 
on  2  Sam.  vii.  18),  and  Daniel,  at  a  later  time,  turned  towards 
Jerusalem  and  its  temple  (Dan.  vi.  10  ;  cf.  i  Kings  viii.  38).  From 
verse  13  below  we  must  infer  that  it  w^  customary  at  this 
period  to  pray  aloud. 

11.  Like  Jacob  (Gen.  xxviii.  20  ff.)  and  Absalom  (3  Sam.  xv.  8), 
Hannah  combines  a  vow  with  her  prayer.  It  has  been  too  hastily 
assumed  that  the  child  was  to  be  a  Nazirite  or  devotee  from  his 
birth  in  the  sense  of  Num.  vi,  which  belongs  to  the  later  legislation. 

13.  That  these  sacrificial  feasts  were  often  accompanied  by 
excess  is  plain  from  Isa.  xxviii.  7  ;  cf.  Amos  ii.  8. 


40  I   SAMUEL  1.  14-20.     S 

14  thought  she  had  been  drunken.  And  Eli  said  unto  her^ 
How  long  wilt  thou  be  drunken?   put  away  thy  wine 

15  from  thee.  And  Hannah  answered  and  said,  No,  my 
lord,  I  am  a  woman  of  a  sorrowful  spirit :  I  have  drunk 
neither  wine  nor  strong  drink,  but  I  poured  out  my  soul 

16  before  the  Lord.  Count  not  thine  handmaid  for  a 
daughter  of  Belial :  for  out  of  the  abundance  of  my 
complaint  and  my  provocation  have  I  spoken  hitherto. 

1 7  Then  Eli  answered  and  said,  Go  in  peace  :  and  the  God 
of  Israel  grant  thy  petition  that  thou  hast  asked  of  him. 

18  And  she  said,  Let  thy  servant  find  grace  in  thy  sight. 
So  the  woman  went   her  way,  and   did   eat,  and   her 

19  countenance  was  no  more  sad.  And  they  rose  up  in 
the  morning  early,  and  worshipped  before  the  Lord,  and 
returned,  and  came  to  their  house  to  Ramah :  and 
Elkanah   knew   Hannah   his  wife ;    and   the   Lord  re~ 

20  membered  her.  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  time 
was  come  about,  that  Hannah  conceived,  and  bare 
a  son ;  and  she  called  his  name  Samuel,  saying,  Because 


16.  a  daughter  of  Belial :  a  disreputable  woman  (cf.  R.  V. 
marg.) ;  only  here,  but  '  sons  of  Belial '  and  *  men  of  Belial '  are 
frequently  used  in  the  historical  books  for  'disreputable  characters' 
such  as  the  sons  of  Eli  (ii.  12).  The  etymology  underlying  the 
supposed  meaning,  '  worthlessness '  (R.V.  marg.),  is  not  free  from 
difficulty.  In  the  O.  T.  Belial  is  never  a  proper  name,  but  in 
post-biblical  Jewish  literature  it  often  occurs  as  a  name  for  Satan 
(so  2  Cor.  vi.  15).     See  further  EBi.  i.  col.  525  ff, 

19.  rememlsered  her:  implying  that  she  conceived  (so  ex- 
pressly LXX  here  ;  cf.  Gen.  xxx.  22  f.  of  Rachel).  The  mention 
of  her  conception  in  the  next  verse  is  due  to  a  copyist's  slip. 

20.  Render  :  '  And  it  came  to  pass  at  the  turn  of  the  year  that 
she  bore  a  son.'  The  date  intended  is  the  autumn  or  fall,  shortly 
before  the  return  of  the  Feast  of  Ingathering  (see  note  on  verse  3). 

Samuel :  in  Heb.  SheniiCel ,  here  associated  by  the  historian 
with  the  verb  sha'al^  to  ask,  by  which  he  '  means  to  express  (as 
often  in  the  O.  T.)  an  assonance,  not  an  etymology '  (Driver,  Notes 
on  the  Hebt'civ  Text  of  Satnuel,  in  loc).  Of  the  numerous  attempts 
at  a  more  scientific  etymoloa^',  ^he  two  most  plausible  agree  in 


I   SAMUEL  1.  21-24.     S  41 

I  have  asked  him  of  the  Lord.     And  the  man  Elkanah,  21 
and  all  his  house,  went  up  to  offer  unto  the  Lord  the 
yearly  sacrifice,  and  his  vow.    But  Hannah  went  not  up;  22 
for  she  said  unto  her  husband,  I  will  not  go  up  until  the 
child  be  weaned,  and  then  I  will  bring  him,  that  he  may 
appear  before  the  Lord,  and  there  abide  for  ever.     And  23 
Elkanah  her  husband  said  unto  her,  Do  what  seemeth 
thee  good ;  tarry  until  thou  have  weaned  him  ;  only  the 
Lord  establish  his  word.     So  the  woman  tarried  and 
gave  her  son  suck,  until  she  weaned  him.     And  when  24 
she  had  weaned  him,  she  took  him  up  with  her,  with 
three  bullocks,  and  one  ephah  of  meal,  and  a  bottle  of 
wine,  and  brought  him  unto  the  house  of  the  Lord  in 

connecting  the  first  part  of  the  word  with  the  Semitic  root  for 
'name.'  Thus  many  scholars  take  Shemuel  to  mean  'Name  of 
God,'  with  which  they  compare  names  like  Penuel  ('  face  of  God'), 
Reuel,  &c.  More  recently  it  has  been  suggested,  on  the  analogy 
of  some  early  Babylonian  and  South  Arabian  names,  that  the  first 
element  denotes  'His  name'  as  a  periphrasis  for  Yahweh — 'His 
nam.e  is  God  '  =  •  Yahweh  is  God.'  Samuel  would  thus  be  identical 
in  meaning  with  the  name  Joel  (see  Hommel,  The  Ancient  Hebrew 
Tradition,  loo,  and  index  under  Samuel). 

21.  A  full  year  has  now  elapsed  since  the  events  of  the  earlier 
part  of  the  chapter. 

23.  Mb  word:  read  with  LXX  'thy  word,'  meaning  'may 
Yahweh  permit  thee  to  carry  out  thy  intention,'  as  expressed  in 
verse  22^ 

24.  The  child's  age  at  this  point  is  not  stated.  Hebrew 
mothers  usually  nursed  their  children  for  two  to  three  years 
(2  Mace.  vii.  27),  but  a  period  of  five  to  six  years  is  not  unknown 
in  Palestine  at  the  present  time.  The  longer  period  is  suggested 
here  by  the  fact  that  Samuel  was  able  from  the  first  to  minister 
at  Shiloh  (ii.  ii). 

three  biQlocks.  The  ancient  law  required  that  at  the 
redemption  of  the  firstborn  none  should  appear  '  before  Yahweh 
empty '  (Exod.  xxxiv.  20),  but  the  first  part  of  Hannah's  offering 
in  the  Hebrew  text  is  not  only  out  of  proportion  to  the  rest,  but  is 
inconsistent  with  verse  25^  ;  read  therefore,  by  dividing  the  words 
differently,    'with  a  bullock  of  three  years  old'  (see  R.  V.  marg.). 

An  ephah  was  about  equal  to  an   imperial  bushel  (see  the 


42  I   SAMUEL  1.  25—2.  I.     SZ 

25  Shiloh  :   and  the  child  was  young.     And  they  slew  the 

26  bullock,  and  brought  the  child  to  Eli.  And  she  said, 
Oh  my  lord,  as  thy  soul  liveth,  my  lord,  I  am  the  woman 

27  that  stood  by  thee  here,  praying  unto  the  Lord.  For 
this  child  I  prayed ;  and  the  Lord  hath  given  me  my 

28  petition  which  I  asked  of  him  :  therefore  I  also  have 
granted  him  to  the  Lord  ;  as  long  as  he  liveth  he  is 
granted   to  the  Lord.     And  he  worshipped  the  Lord 


there. 


[Z]  And  Hannah  prayed,  and  said : 
My  heart  exulteth  in  the  Lord, 


writer's  article  *  Weights  and  Measures,'  Hastings'  DB.  iv.  912), 
and  was  of  the  same  capacity  as  the  corresponding  '  bath '  for 
liquids.     The  last  clause  of  the  verse  is  corrupt. 

25.  Since  it  is  stated  so  circumstantially  in  the  narrative  that 
Hannah  alone  went  up  to  Shiloh  with  her  child  —  Elkanah 
appearing  only  in  ii.  11,  where  the  name  is  a  later  intrusion, 
unsupported  by  the  LXX — we  should  render:  'And  after  they 
(the  temple  olficials)  had  slain  the  bullock,  the  mother  of  the  child 
(so  LXX  with  change  of  one  letter)  came  to  Eli,  and  said,'  &c. 

28.  Samuel  is  solemnly  granted,  i.  e.  dedicated  to  the  lifelong 
service  of  the  Lord.  The  last  clause  must  be  taken  in  connexion 
with  ii.  II,  and  the  original  text  may  be  thus  restored  with  the 
help  of  the  LXX  :  '  And  she  left  him  there  before  Yahweh,  and 
went  to  Ramah  to  her  house.  And  the  child  continued  to  minister 
unto  Yahweh  before  Eli  the  priest.'  The  insertion  of  the  song 
by  a  later  editor  (see  below)  led  to  the  disruption  of  the  original 
context.  With  the  position  of  Samuel  as  Eli's  famulus  com- 
pare Joshua's  relation  to  Moses  at  the  Tent  of  Meeting  (Exod. 
xxxiii.  11). 

ii.  i-io.  Hannah's  prayer  is  really  a  psalm  (cf.  Ps.  Ixxii.  20, 
'the  prayers  of  David').  The  reference  to  the  king  in  verse  10 
— no  matter  whether  an  actual  or  an  ideal  sovereign  is  intended — 
alone  shows  that  this  beautiful  sacred  lyric  cannot  have  been 
sung  by  Hannah  in  the  circumstances  described.  To  Hannah's 
special  circumstances,  indeed,  there  is  no  explicit  reference  what- 
ever. The  words  of  5*^  alone  approach  her  situation,  and 
doubtless  led  to  the  insertion  of  the  psalm  in  its  present  context; 
scarcely,  however,  by  the  original  compiler  of  Samuel  (see 
Introduction),  but  by  a  later  hand.  The  original,  which  has 
suffered  in  some  places  in  the  course  of  transmission,  consists  of 


I   SAMUEL  2.  2-4.     Z  43 

Mine  horn  is  exalted  in  the  Lord  : 

My  mouth  is  enlarged  over  mine  enemies ; 

Because  I  rejoice  in  thy  salvation. 

There  is  none  holy  as  the  Lord  ; 

For  there  is  none  beside  thee ; 

Neither  is  there  any  rock  like  our  God. 

Talk  no  more  so  exceeding  proudly  ; 

Let  not  arrogancy  come  out  of  your  mouth  : 

For  the  Lord  is  a  God  of  knowledge, 

And  by  him  actions  are  weighed. 

The  bows  of  the  mighty  men  are  broken, 

And  they  that  stumbled  are  girded  with  strength. 

a  number  of  distichs,  or  short  double  lines,  each  marked  by  the 
parallelism  of  thought  and  expression  which  is  characteristic  of 
Hebrew  poetry.  The  Magnificat  (Luke  i.  46-55)  is  largely 
modelled  on  the  Song  of  Hannah.  The  main  theme  of  the  Song 
is  the  sovereignty  of  God  as  the  supreme  disposer  of  the  destinies 
of  men  (verses  4-8\  which  is  preceded  by  a  note  of  jubilant 
praise  ( i  f.)  and  a  note  of  warning  (3),  and  followed  by  a  reference 
to  the  Messianic  future  (gf. '. 

1.  mine  horn  is  exalted  (cf.  verse  10'*)  :  a  familiar  figure, 
drawn  from  animal  life,  for  abounding  vitality  and  somewhat 
self-conscious  strength.  The  widening  of  the  month  was  a  gesture 
of  contempt  (Ps.  xxxv.  21  ;  Isa.  Ivii.  4). 

2.  The  original  distich  is  probably  to  be  restored  by  omitting 
the  second  line  of  our  text,  which  interrupts  the  parallelism.  The 
figurative  designation  of  God  as  a  rock,  that  is,  as  the  steadfast 
support  and  refuge  of  His  people,  is  frequent  in  Hebrew  poetry 
•2  Sam.  xxii.  3,  47,  xxiii.  3 ;  Deut.  xxxii.  4,  &c.,  and  often  in 
Pss.). 

3.  by  him  (to  be  preferred  to  R.V.  marg.)  actions  are  weighed: 
with  this  figure  of  the  balance  as  the  means  of  testing  human 
worth  (so  Prov.  xvi.  2  ;  Dan.  v.  27)  we  may  compare  the  familiar 
illustration  from  the  Egyptian  Book  of  the  Dead,  representing 
the  heart  of  the  deceased  in  one  scale  being  weighed  against  the 
symbol  of  Truth  and  Right  in  the  other  before  being  admitted  to 
the  realm  of  Osiris.  The  test  to  which  the  Hebrew  poet  refers, 
however,  is  applied  in  this  life,  and  the  changes  in  the  fortunes  of 
men  and  women  adduced  in  the  following  verses  are  to  be  regarded 
as  the  ensuing  rewards  and  punishments,  and  not  as  due  to  the 
caprice  of  an  arbitrary  sovereign. 


44  I   SAMUEL  2.  5-9.     Z 

They  that  were  full  have  hired  out  themselves  for 

bread ; 
And  they  that  were  hungry  have  ceased : 
Yea,  the  barren  hath  borne  seven  ; 
And  she  that  hath  many  children  languisheth. 
The  Lord  killeth,  and  maketh  alive : 
He  bringeth  down  to  the  grave,  and  bringeth  up. 
The  Lord  maketh  poor,  and  maketh  rich  : 
He  bringeth  low,  he  also  lifteth  up. 
He  raiseth  up  the  poor  out  of  the  dust. 
He  lifteth  up  the  needy  from  the  dunghill, 
To  make  them  sit  with  princes, 
And  inherit  the  throne  of  glory  : 
For  the  pillars  of  the  earth  are  the  Lord's, 
And  he  hath  set  the  world  upon  them. 
He  will  keep  the  feet  of  his  holy  ones, 

5.  have  ceased  (to  be  hungry)  :  better  with  R.V.  marg.,  *have 
rest '  from  toil.  The  rest  of  the  verse  seems  to  be  an  expansion  of 
Jer.  XV.  9a.  seven  here  has  the  sense  of  '  a  numerous  family '  ; 
note  the  parallelism. 

6.  the  ^rave  :  Heb,  shfoly  corresponding  to  the  Greek  Hades^ 
the  abode  of  departed  spirits,  good  and  bad  alike.  It  was  thought 
of  as  lying  beneath  the  earth,  where  the  so-called  *  shades  '  passed 
a  shadowy  existence,  scarcely  worthy  to  be  called  life.  In  the 
A.  V.  Sheol  is  variously  rendered  by  ^  the  grave,'  *  hell,'  and 
sometimes  *  the  pit '  ;  for  these  the  R.  V.  has  substituted  '  Sheol ' 
in  about  half  the  passages  (e.  g.  2  Sam.  xxii.  6  for  *  hell,'  which 
with  its  modern  associations  is  a  peculiarly  unhappy  rendering). 
In  the  light  of  the  parallelism  in  6a  it  is  difficult  to  avoid  the 
conclusion  that  in  6^  the  poet  declares  his  belief  in  a  resurrection 
from  the  dead.  If  this  be  so,  the  date  of  the  poem  must  be  sought 
well  on  in  the  post-exilic  period  (cf.  Isa.  xxvi.  19  ;  Dan.  xii.  iff.). 
By  most  commentators,  however,  Sheol  is  here  understood  as 
a  figurative  expression  for  the  extreme  of  distress  and  peril,  as  in 
Ps.  ixxxvi.  13. 

8.  Cf.  the  parallel  Ps.  cxiii.  7  ff.  The  terms  used  are  not  to  be 
explained  as  mere  oriental  figures  (see  W.  R.  Smith,  Religion  of 
the  Semites,  and  ed.,  235  n.  i). 

In  verses  gf.  the  poet  turns  from  the  present  to  the  future  ;  the 


I    SAMUEL  2.  lo-i?,.     ZS  45 

But  the  wicked  shall  be  put  to  silence  in  darkness ; 

For  by  strength  shall  no  man  prevail. 

They  that  strive  with  the  Lord  shall  be  broken  to  ro 

pieces ; 
Against  them  shall  he  thunder  in  heaven  : 
The  Lord  shall  judge  the  ends  of  the  earth ; 
And  he  shall  give  strength  unto  his  king, 
And  exalt  the  horn  of  his  anointed. 

[S]  And  Elkanah  went  to  Ramah  to  his  house.     And  n 
the  child  did  minister  unto  the  Lord  before  EH  the  priest. 

Now  the  sons  of  Eli  were  sons  of  Belial;  they  knew  12 
not  the  Lord.     And  the  custom  of  the  priests  with  the  13 
people  was,  that,  when   any  man  offered   sacrifice,  the 
priest's  servant  came,  while  the  flesh  was  in  seething, 

destruction  of  the  wicked,  the  preservation  of  the  pious  Israelites — 
the  '  holy  '  or  '  godly  ones '  of  verse  9 — and  the  judgement  of  the 
world  preceding  the  advent  of  the  Messiah  are  all  characteristic 
features  of  the  later  Jewish  eschatology.  Verse  10''  should  pro- 
bably read,  with  a  slight  change  :  '  The  Most  High  in  heaven 
shall  shatter  them '  (cf.  Ps.  ii.  9),  which  improves  the  parallelism. 

And  he  shall  g^ive  strength :  rather  '  in  order  to  give . . .  and 
to  exalt,'  &c.,  both  being  final  clauses. 

his  king  .  .  .  his  anointed :  these  terms  are  best  taken 
as  referring  to  the  Messianic  King,  the  same  who  is  the  theme  of 
the  second  Psalm.  For  the  origin  and  significance  of  the  ex- 
pression '  Yahweh's  anointed,'  see  on  x.  i, 

11.  The  original  close  of  the  narrative  of  ch.  i  (see  on  i.  28  above), 
ii.  12-17.     The  miscoudiict  of  Eli's  sons,  Hophni  and  Phinehas. 

12.  sons  of  Belial:  see  on  i.  16. 

they  knew  not  the  XiOBD:  'did  not  acknowledge  the  Lord' 
more  nearly  reproduces  the  thought  of  the  original ;  Eli's  sons 
lived  in  open  disregard  of  God's  moral  requirements.  Cf.  Hos. 
iv.  I,  6,  where  'the  knowledge  of  God'  is  sj'nonymous  with 
obedience  to  His  moral  law.  We  have  here  the  O.T.  parallel  to 
the  faith  which  '  if  it  hath  not  works  is  dead  '  (Jas.  ii.  17  ff.). 

13-16.  In  these  verses  the  historian  explains  the  irregularities 
of  which  'the  5'oung  men'  (verse  17)  were  guilty.  With  the 
margin,  however,  we  should  join  the  first  part  of  verse  13  to  verse 
I  a,  and  read  :   '  thej'  regarded  neither  Yahweh  nor  what  was  due 


46  I    SAMUEL  2.  14-17.     S 

14  with  a  fleshhook  of  three  teeth  in  his  hand;  and  he 
struck  it  into  the  pan,  or  kettle,  or  caldron,  or  pot ;  all 
that  the  fleshhook  brought  up  the  priest  took  therewith. 
So  they  did  in  Shiloh  unto  all  the  Israelites  that  came 

15  thither.  Yea,  before  they  burnt  the  fat,  the  priest's 
servant  came,  and  said  to  the  man  that  sacrificed,  Give 
flesh  to  roast  for  the  priest ;  for  he  will  not  have  sodden 

16  flesh  of  thee,  but  raw.  And  if  the  man  said  unto  him, 
They  will  surely  burn  the  fat  presently,  and  then  take 
as  much  as  thy  soul  desireth ;  then  he  would  say.  Nay, 
but  thou  shalt  give  it  me  now :  and  if  not,  I  will  take  it 

17  by  force.  And  the  sin  of  the  young  men  was  very  great 
before  the  Lord  :  for  men  abhorred  the  offering  of  the 
Lord. 

to  the  priest  from  the  people.'  At  this  early  period  the  priests' 
dues  were  not  yet  a  matter  of  written  prescription  (see  Deut. 
xviii,  3  for  a  later  period),  but  were  apparently  left  to  the  free  will 
of  the  worshipper.  The  sons  of  Eli  were  not  satisfied  with  this 
arrangement,  but  *  whenever  a  man  offered  a  sacrifice  '  they  sent 
a  servant  with  the  demand  of  the  text.  In  this  way  they  sinned 
against  the  use  and  wont  of  the  sanctuary  of  Shiloh. 

14.  the  priest  took  therewith :  read  with  the  Versions  and 
R.V.  marg. :  '  took  for  himself.' 

15  f.  record  a  serious  aggravation  of  the  breach  of  hallowed 
custom  just  mentioned.  Hophni  and  Phinehas  were  guilty  not 
only  of  high-handed  conduct  towards  the  worshippers,  but  of 
sacrilege,  in  that  they  were  wont  to  demand  their  share  of  the 
sacrificial  flesh  before  Yahweh  had  received  His  portion  by  the 
burning  of  the  fat  upon  the  altar.  This,  next  to  the  solemn  shedding 
of  the  blood  of  tlie  victim  at  the  foot  of  the  altar,  was  of  the 
essence  of  the  rite. 

16.  presently :  better,  as  margin,  '  first  *  (let  them  burn  the 
fat).  Only  after  the  blood  and  the  fat  had  been  duly  offered  could 
priest  and  worshipper  partake  of  the  sacrificial  meal  that  followed 

(cf.  i.  4ff.). 

17.  for  men  abhorred  the  offering' of  the  IiOBD :  grammatical 
usage  requires  us  to  render  as  in  the  margin  :  '  for  the  men  (i.  e. 
the  sons  of  Eli)  despised,  showed  contempt  for,  the  Lord's 
offering.'  Probably,  however,  the  original  was  simply  *  for  they 
despised,'  &c.  (so  LXX). 


I    SAMUEL  2.  18-22.     S  47 

But  Samuel  ministered  before  the  Lord,  being  a  child,  18 
girded  with  a  linen  ephod.     Moreover  his  mother  made  19 
him  a  little  robe,  and   brought  it  to  him  from  year  to 
year,  when  she  came  up  with  her  husband  to  offer  the 
yearly  sacrifice.     And  Eli  blessed  Elkanah  and  his  wife,  20 
and  said,  The  Lord  give  thee  seed  of  this  woman  for 
the  loan  which  was  lent  to  the  Lord.     And  they  went 
unto  their  own  home.     And  the  Lord  visited  Hannah,  21 
and  she  conceived,  and  bare  three  sons  and  two  daughters. 
And  the  child  Samuel  grew  before  the  Lord. 

Now  Eli  was  very  old ;  and  he  heard  all  that  his  sons  22 
did  unto  all  Israel,  and  how  that  they  lay  with  the  women 


ii.  18-21.  Samuel  the  boy-priest.  This  charming  picture  of 
Samuel  in  the  serene  innocence  of  childhood,  clothed  in  priestly 
dress  and  the  object  of  a  pious  mother's  care,  is  skilfully  introduced 
between  12-17  and  22-25  i^  order  to  heighten  the  contrast 
between  him  and  the  unworthy  sons  of  Eli,  who,  scorning  all 
parental  restraint,  had  brought  the  priestly  office  into  contempt. 

18.  girded  with  a  linen  ephod  (Heb.  'ephod  bad) :  so  David 
when  he  danced  before  the  Ark  (2  Sam.  vi.  14).  From  the  sequel 
to  the  latter  incident  {ibid.  20  ff.)  we  learn  that  the  '  linen  ephod  ' 
must  have  been  a  short  skirt  girt  about  the  waist,  and  a  dis- 
tinctive part  of  the  priests'  dress.  It  was  as  a  boy- priest  that 
Samuel  '  ministered  before  the  Lord.'  Elsewhere  in  the  Books 
of  Samuel,  with  one  apparent  exception,  where  our  versions 
speak  of  'wearing  an  {or  the)  ephod,'  an  entirely  different  object 
is  intended.  See  note  on  verse  28  below,  and  for  the  exception 
referred  to  see  on  xxii.  18. 

20.  The  LORD  give  thee  seed,  &c.  :  the  text  is  difficult  and 
doubtless  corrupt.  We  should  probably  read  :  '  The  Lord  repay 
thee  with  offspring  {or  seed)  from  this  woman,  in  return  for  the 
loan  which  she  hath  lent  to  the  Lord.'  The  terms  Moan'  and 
'  lend '  are  used  with  reference  to  i.  28. 

ii.  22-26.     Eli  makes  an  ineffectual  attempt  to  restrain  his  sons. 

22  f.  The  original  text  seems  to  have  run  thus  :  '  Now  Eli  was 
very  old,  and  when  he  heard  all  .  .  .  Israel,  he  said  unto  them,' 
&c.  The  second  half  of  verse  22,  which  is  wanting  in  the 
LXX  (B),  is  rejected  by  all  modern  critics  as  an  interpolation  from 
Exod.  xxxviii.  8,  with  a  view  to  heighten  the  iniquity  of  the  priests. 
The   introduction    here  of    'the   tent   of  meeting'  is  altogether 


48  I   SAMUEL  2.  23-26.     S 

23  that  did  service  at  the  door  of  the  tent  of  meeting.  And 
he  said  unto  them,  Why  do  ye  such  things?  for  I  heai 

24  of  your  evil  dealings  from  all  this  people.  Nay,  my  sons  ; 
for  it  is  no  good  report  that  I  hear :  ye  make  the  Lord's 

25  people  to  transgress.  If  one  man  sin  against  another, 
God  shall  judge  him :  but  if  a  man  sin  against  the 
Lord,  who  shall  intreat  for  him?  Notwithstanding  they 
hearkened  not  unto  the  voice  of  their  father,  because  the 

26  Lord  would  slay  them.  And  the  child  Samuel  grew  on, 
and  was  in  favour  both  with  the  Lord,  and  also  with  men. 

at  variance  with  the  picture  of  the  temple  of  Shiloh  in  ch.  i  (see 
note  on  Shiloh,  i.  3). 

23  f.  Read  :  '  Why  do  3'e  these  things  that  I  hear  from  all  the 
people;  nay,  my  sons,  for  evil  (lit.  'not  good')  is  the  report 
which  I  hear  the  Lord's  people  do  spread  abroad  '  (see  marg.). 
For  the  text  here,  see  Driver,  Notes  in  loc. 

25.  God  shall  judgre  him :  rather,  '  doth  act  as  arbiter.'  In 
cases  of  wrongdoing  between  man  and  man,  God  arbitrates  or 
mediates  between  them,  either  through  His  representative,  the 
judge  (cf.  marg.),  or  through  an  oracle,  or  otherwise  ;  but  in  the 
case  of  sins  directly  affecting  God,  such  as  the  sacrilege  of  Eli's 
sons,  there  is  no  third  party  to  act  as  mediator.  The  sinner  in 
consequence  cannot  hope  to  escape  the  punishment  incurred. 

26.  Imitated  by  Luke  in  his  description  of  the  boyhood  of 
Jesus  (ii.  52). 

ii.  27-36.  The  doom  of  ElVs  house  foretold.  There  is  a  con- 
sensus of  opinion  among  scholars  that  this  section  in  its  present 
form  is  of  later  date  than  the  main  body  of  the  narrative  of 
chs.  i-iii,  and  consequently  from  a  different  hand.  The  main 
arguments  in  favour  of  this  view  are  (i)  the  absence  of  all 
reference  to  Samuel,  who  is  the  centre  of  interest  in  the  main 
narrative  ;  and  (2)  the  acquaintance  which  the  section  betrays 
with  the  long  subsequent  history  of  the  Israelite  priesthood,  down 
apparently  to  the  reformation  under  Josiah  (see  belowl.  It  is  not 
so  clear  whether  the  passage  is  entirely  to  be  referred  to  a  writer 
of  the  Deuteronomic  school,  or  whether  the  latter  has  merelj' 
expanded  a  shorter  passage  of  more  general  import  by  the  original 
narrator.  If  iii.  12  is  to  be  retained  (see  there),  the  latter  is  the 
more  plausible  view  (cf.  Driver,  LOT.'^,  174).  Unfortunately  the 
text  is  in  several  places  corrupt,  and  the  exegesis  in  consequence 
uncertain. 


I  SAMUEL  2.  27,  28.     D  49 

[D]  And  there  came  a  man  of  God  unto  Eli,  and  said  ^s; 
unto  him,  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  Did  I  reveal  myself  unto 
the  house  of  thy  father,  when  they  were  in  Egypt  />/ 
bondage  to  Pharaoh's  house?  And  did  I  choose  him  28 
out  of  all  the  tribes  of  Israel  to  be  my  priest,  to  go  up 
unto  mine  altar,  to  burn  incense,  to  wear  an  ephod  before 
me  ?  and  did  I  give  unto  the  house  of  thy  father  all  the 

27.  a  man  of  G-od:  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  frequent  desig- 
nations of  a  prophet  (as  of  Samuel  himself,  ix.  6ff.),  emphasizing 
the  prophet's  close  connexion  with  God  as  His  confidant  (Amos 
iii.  7)  and  messenger.  In  the  historical  books  anonymous  prophets 
are,  as  a  rule,  characteristic  of  later  passages,  and  in  almost 
every  case  they  are  messengers  of  threatening  and  doom.  The 
questions  following  (verses  27,  28)  imply  in  each  case  an  aifirma- 
tive  answer. 

tlie  house  of  thy  father  :  the  genealogy  of  Eli  is  nowhere 
given  in  the  O.  T.  By  the  Chronicler,  however,  one  of  his 
descendants  is  described  as  'of  the  sons  of  Ithamar'  (i  Chron. 
xxiv.  3),  the  fourth  son  of  Aaron.  The  name  of  Eli's  son,  Phinehas, 
is  another  link  connecting  him  with  the  family  of  Aaron  (see 
Exod.  vi.  23,  25).  The  reference  here  is  manifestly  to  the  Divine 
choice  of  the  tribe  of  Levi  for  the  priestly  office  (cf.  the  parallel 
passage,  Deut.  xxxiii.  8-n). 

28.  Note  here  the  threefold  division  of  the  priestly  duties,  with 
which  should  be  compared  another  threefold  division  in  Deut.  x.  8  f. 

to  wear  an  ephod  before  me  :  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the 
verb  {ndsd)  here  rendered  '  to  wear '  is  nowhere  else  found  in 
the  sense  of  wearing  an  article  of  dress,  we  must  here,  and  in 
the  other  passages  where  the  expression  occurs,  render  '  to  bear 
an  ephod  before  me.'  The  precise  nature  of  the  ephod,  of  which 
mention  is  so  frequently  made  in  the  Books  of  Samuel,  is  still 
undetermined.  That  it  was  an  object  made,  in  whole  or  in  part, 
of  precious  metal  (Judges  viii.  27),  that  it  stood  free  like  an  image 
or  idol  (i  Sam.  xxi.  9),  that  it  was  carried  on  occasion  by 
a  priest  (xiv.  3,  xxiii,  6  'in  his  hand'),  and  that  it  was  chiefly 
used  in  connexion  with  divination,  especially  for  ascertaining  the 
will  of  Yahweh  by  means  of  the  sacred  lot  (xiv.  18,  where  see 
note  ;  xxiii.  6,  9,'  xxx.  7,  &c.),  are  conclusions  now  generally 
accepted  by  scholars.  See  the  articles  *  Ephod '  in  DB.  i  (Driver), 
and  EBi.  ii  (Moore),  and  Kautzsch  in  Hastings'  DB.^  extra 
vol.  641  f.  The  connexion  between  the  ephod  as  an  image  or 
such  like  and  the  ephod  bad  or  linen  ephod  of  verse  18  is  still 
matter  of  conjecture  (sec  the  authorities  just  cited). 


50  I   SAMUEL  2.  29-32.     D 

29  offerings  of  the  children  of  Israel  made  by  fire  ?  Where- 
fore kick  ye  at  my  sacrifice  and  at  mine  offering,  which 
I  have  commanded  in  my  habitation ;  and  honourest  thy 
sons  above  me,  to  make  yourselves  fat  with  the  chiefest 

30  of  all  the  offerings  of  Israel  my  people?  Therefore  the 
Lord,  the  God  of  Israel,  saith,  I  said  indeed  that  thy 
house,  and  the  house  of  thy  father,  should  walk  before 
me  for  ever  :  but  now  the  Lord  saith.  Be  it  far  from 
me;    for  them  that  honour  me  I  will  honour,  and  they 

31  that  despise  me  shall  be  lightly  esteemed.  Behold,  the 
days  come,  that  I  will  cut  off  thine  arm,  and  the  arm  of 
thy  father's  house^  that  there  shall  not  be  an  old  man  in 

32  thine  house.  And  thou  shalt  behold  the  affliction  of 
my  habitation,  in  all  the  wealth  which  God  shall  give 

all  the  offering's :  for  the  priests'  share  in  the  various 
offerings  as  determined  by  the  Deuteronomic  and  Priestly  legisla- 
tions, see  Deut.  xviii.  i  ff.  ;  Num.  xviii.  8  ff.,  and  elsewhere. 
Contrast  verses  13  ff.  above  (with  note). 

29.  wliich  I  have  cominanded  in  my  habitation :  the  text  is 
here,  by  universal  consent,  admitted  to  be  corrupt,  and  no 
convincing  restoration  has  as  yet  been  proposed.  The  plural 
pronouns  show  that  Eli  is  involved  in  the  iniquity  of  his  sons,  in 
that  he  shared  with  them  the  meat  which  they  secured  by 
sacrilegious  means. 

30.  Yahweh  revokes  His  intention  with  regard  to  the  house  of 
Eli,  with  whose  descendants  the  highest  offices  of  the  priesthood 
would  have  remained  had  they  proved  themselves  worthy  of  so 
great  an  honour. 

and  the  house  of  thy  father  :  these  words,  and  the  cor- 
responding reference  in  verse  31,  must  be  deleted  as  a  mistaken 
addition,  suggested  by  37  ff.  (so  Lohr  and  others),  since  the  doom 
about  to  be  pronounced  affects  only  the  descendants  of  Eli  ;  the 
honour  of  the  priesthood  is  about  to  be  transferred  to  another 
-branch  of  the  house  of  Levi  (see  on  verse  35). 

31  f.  The  text  of  these  two  verses  is  extremely  uncertain,  the 
best  Greek  version,  LXX  (B),  omitting  the  latter  half  of  verse  31 
and  the  first  half  of  32.  In  particular,  the  words  rendered  'the 
affliction  of  my  habitation  '  are  hopelessly  corrupt.  The  general 
sense  appears  to  be  that  the  strength  and  vitality  of  the  house  of 
Eli,  symbolized  by  the  expression  *  arm,'  will  be  so  undermined 


I    SAMUEL  2.  33-35.     D  5^ 

Israel :  and  there  shall  not  be  an  old  man  in  thine  house 
for  ever.     And  the  man  of  thine,  ivhoiii  I  shall  not  cut  33 
off  from  mine  altar,  shall  be  to  consume  thine  eyes,  and  to 
grieve  thine  heart :   and  all  the  increase  of  thine  house 
shall  die  in  the  flower  of  their  age.     And  this  shall  be  34 
the  sign  unto  thee,  that  shall  come  upon  thy  two  sons,  on 
Hophni  and  Phinehas ;  in  one  day  they  shall  die  both  of 
them.     And  I  will  raise  me  up  a  faithful  priest,  that  shall  35 
do  according  to  that  which  is  in  mine  heart  and  in  my 
mind :  and  I  will  build  him  a  sure  house ;  and  he  shall 


that  no  member  thereof  will  ever  reach  old  age.     '  Premature 
death  is  a  sign  of  the  Divine  displeasure'  (H.  P.  Smith). 

33.  And  the  man  of  thine  :  i.  e.  of  thy  family,  the  reference 
being  to  Abiathar,  the  son  of  Ahimelech  and  great-grandson  of 
Eli,  who  alone  escaped  from  the  massacre  of  the  priests  of  Nob 
(xxii.  20).  The  whole  may  be  rendered  thus:  'Yet  (one)  man 
belonging  to  thee  I  will  not  cut  off  from  mine  altar,  that  he  may 
consume  his  eyes  and  cause  his  soul  (reading  '  his '  for  '  thy/ 
with  LXX)  to  pine  away.'  For  the  last  expression  see  Lev. 
xxvi.  16  R.  V.  This  reading  brings  out  more  clearly  the  reference 
to  Abiathar's  loss  of  his  office,  and  banishment  by  Solomon.  So, 
at  least,  the  passage  was  understood  by  the  author  of  i  Kings 
ii.  27  (see  Skinner's  Commentary  in  this  series). 

in  the  flower  of  their  age :  a  more  than  doubtful  rendering 
of  the  text.  The  Greek  reading,  '  by  the  sword  of  men,'  is 
generally  preferred  (see  R.  V.  m.arg.), 

34.  The  death  of  Eli's  two  sons  in  one  day  (iv.  11)  is  to  be  at 
once  the  beginning  of  the  threatened  doom  and  the  earnest  of  all 
that  is  to  follow. 

35.  The  opening  words  might  lead  us  to  identify  the  *  faithful 
priest'  with  Samuel,  but  this  identification  is  ruled  out  by  the 
following  clauses,  which  point  unmistakably  to  Zadok,  the 
future  head  and  ancestor  of  the  Jerusalem  priesthood. 

I  will  bxiild  him  a  sure  house :  that  is,  I  will  establish  his 
tiescendants  permanently  in  the  priesthood,  as  explained  in  the 
following  clause.  '  House  *  as  a  figure  for  <  family,'  descendants, 
is  a  common  figure  in  the  O.  T.  from  Gen.  xviii.  19  (Abraham^, 
onwards  ;  for  *  building  a  house  '  in  the  modern  sense  of  '  founding 
a  family'  see  Deut.  xxv.  9  ;  Ruth  iv.  11.  The  exact  counterpart 
of  this  promise  of  the  permanence  of  the  Zadokite  priesthood  is 
the  assurance  of  a  similar  permanency  for  the  dynasty  of  David 
(2  Sam.  vii.  11  ff.,  also  from  the  pen  of  a  Deuteronomic  historian). 

E   2  ' 


52  I   SAMUEL  2.  36—3.  i.     DS 

36  walk  before  mine  anointed  for  ever.  And  it  shall  come 
to  pass,  that  every  one  that  is  left  in  thine  house  shall 
come  and  bow  down  to  him  for  a  piece  of  silver  and 
a  loaf  of  bread,  and  shall  say,  Put  me,  I  pray  thee,  into 
one  of  the  priests'  offices,  that  I  may  eat  a  morsel  of 
bread. 

3      [S]  And  the  child  Samuel  ministered  unto  the  Lord 

before  mine  anointed:  see  on  x.  i  for  the  origin  of  this 
frequent  designation  of  a  Hebrew  king.  Here,  however,  and 
in  2  Sam.  xxii.  51,  the  expression  is  used  in  a  collective  sense  of 
the  Davidic  dynasty  (see  on  xii.  3,  where  the  various  occurrences 
are  cited).  j 

36.  Most  moderns  find  in  this  verse  a  picture  of  the  straits  to 
which  the  priests  of  the  local  sanctuaries  were  reduced,  when  the 
latter  were  abolished  by  the  reformation  of  Josiah.  It  seems  to 
have  been  found  impossible  to  carry  out  the  injunctions  of  Deut. 
xviii.  6-8,  which  provided  for  the  due  support  of  the  dispossessed 
priests  (cf  2  Kings  xxiii.  8  f.)  at  the  temple  of  Jerusalem,  hence- 
forth the  sole  legitimate  sanctuary.  On  this  view,  which  is 
that  now  generally  adopted  by  O.  T,  scholars,  we  have  a  clear 
indication  of  the  date  of  the  section  (ii.  27-36),  as  already  noted. 
The  intention  of  the  writer  to  whom  its  present  form  is  due  is 
clearly  betrayed  in  verses  33-36.  He  wishes  by  the  expansion 
of  an  earlier  prophecy  to  give  Divine  sanction  to  the  supersession 
of  the  priestly  family  of  Eli  by  Zadok  and  his  descendants, 
a  measure  which  in  reality  was  carried  through  by  Solomon  on 
grounds  of  public  policy.  This,  as  has  been  already  indicated, 
is  the  interpretation  put  upon  it  by  the  Deuteronomic  author  of 
I  Kings  ii.  27. 

iii.  i-iv.  i^  The  call  of  Samuel  and  second  announcement  of 
the  fate  of  ElVs  House. 

The  boy-priest  is  called  to  a  higher  office  as  the  prophet  of 
Yahweh.  In  simple  but  graphic  style  the  narrator  tells  the  story 
of  Samuel's  first  direct  intercourse  with  God.  In  the  end 
Samuel  is  found  established  as  '  a  prophet  of  the  Lord,'  and 
sought  after  as  such  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
land. 

1.  the  child  Samuel:  the  term  na^ar  here  applied  to  Samuel 
gives  no  indication  of  his  age  at  this  important  crisis,  since  it  is 
found  applied  to  any  age,  from  a  new-born  infant  (iv.  ai)  to  a  man 
of  forty  (2  Chron.  xiii.  7,  cf.  xii.  13).  From  the  statement,  ii.  21, 
however,  we  may  infer  that  he  had  now  reached  the  age  of  at 


I    SAMUEL  3.  2-S.     S  53 

before  Eli.     And  the  word  of  the  Lord  was  precious  in 
those  days ;  there  was  no  open  vision.     And  it  came  to  2 
pass  at  that  time,  when  EH  was  laid  down  in  his  place, 
(now  his  eyes  had  begun  to  wax  dim,  that  he  could  not 
see,)  and  the  lamp  of  God  was  not  yet  gone  out,  and  3 
Samuel  was  laid  down  to  sleeps  in  the  temple  of  the  Lord, 
where  the  ark  of  God  was  ;  that  the  Lord  called  Samuel :  4 
and  he  said,  Here  am  L     And  he  ran  unto  Eli,  and  said,  5 
Here   am    I ;    for  thou  calledst   me.     And  he  said,    I 
called  not ;    lie   down   again.     And   he   went   and   lay 
down.     And  the  Lord  called  yet  again,  Samuel.     And  6 
Samuel  arose  and  went  to  Eli,  and  said,  Here  am  I ; 
for  thou  calledst  me.     And  he  answered,  I  called  not, 
my  son ;    lie  down  again.     Now  Samuel   did   not   yet  7 
know  the  Lord,  neither  was  the  word  of  the  Lord  yet 
revealed  unto  him.     And  the  Lord  called  Samuel  again  8 

least  thirteen  to  fifteen  years  (see  on  i.  24),  an  age  at  which 
a  greater  than  he  was  already  busy  with  'the  things  of  His 
Father'  (Luke  ii.  49). 

the  word  of  the  LORD  was  precious  :  rather,  as  in  the 
margin,  'rare,'  a  sense  which  the  word  has  in  Isa.  xiii.  12  (R.V.), 
and  which  requires  us  to  render  the  following  clause  :  'there  was 
no  frequent  vision'  (so  R.V.  marg.). 

2  flf.  The  main  statement  runs  :  '  and  it  came  to  pass  .  .  .  that 
the  Lord  called  Samuel'  ('verse  4),  all  between  being  explanatory 
details  (cf,  on  i.  4-7). 

3.  the  lamp  of  God  was  not  yet  gfone  out :  the  time  indicated 
is  towards  morning  ;  the  lamp  which  burned  in  the  temple  during 

the  hours  of  darkness  was  evidenth'  supplied  with  oil  sufficient-<^^ 
for  one  night  onl}'.  The  custom,  here  vouched  for,  of  the  cedittius 
or  temple  guardian  sleeping  within  the  sanctuary  has  its  parallel 
in  the  early  notice  of  Joshua,  Samuel's  predecessor  in  the 
guardianship  of  the  Ark,  who  *  departed  not  out  of  the  Tent ' 
of  Meeting  (Exod.  xxxiii.  11).  Eli  apparently  slept  in  an  adjoining 
chamber. 

4.  The  Greek  text  is  here  generally  preferred,  as  more  in 
keeping  with  the  graphic  character  of  the  narrative  :  '  and  it  came 
to  pass  (verse  2)  .  .  .  that  the  Lord  called,  Samuel,  Samuel.' 
Cf.  verse  10,  '  as  at  other  times,'  In  verse  6,  also,  the  LXX 
repeats  the  name. 


54  I   SAMUEL   3.  9-13.     S 

the  third  time.  And  he  arose  and  went  to  Eh,  and  said, 
Here  am  I;  for  thou  calledst  me.  And  Eh  perceived 
9  that  the  Lord  had  called  the  child.  Therefore  Eli  said 
unto  Samuel,  Go,  lie  down  :  and  it  shall  be,  if  he  call 
thee,  that  thou  shalt  say,  Speak,  Lord  ;  for  thy  servant 
heareth.     So  Samuel  went  and  lay  down  in  his  place. 

10  And  the  Lord  came,  and  stood,  and  called  as  at  other 
times,  Samuel,  Samuel.     Then  Samuel  said.  Speak ;  for 

11  thy  servant  heareth.  And  the  Lord  said  to  Samuel, 
Behold,   I  will  do  a  thing  in  Israel,  at  which  both  the 

12  ears  of  every  one  that  heareth  it  shall  tingle.  In  that 
day  I  will  perform  against  Eli  all  that  I  have  spoken 
concerning  his  house,  from  the  beginning  even  unto  the 

13  end.     For  I  have  told  him  that  I  will  judge  his  house 

10.  the  IiOBD  came,  and  stood:  the  Deity  is  now,  for  the 
first  time,  visible  as  well  as  audible.  The  whole  passage  is  of 
importance  for  the  writer's  conception  of  the  mode  of  revelation 
in  early  times. 

iii.  11-14.  Annojuicemeniofthe  impending  punishment  of  Eli  and 
his  house.  Render:  'Behold,  I  am  about  to  do  a  thing  in  Israel,' 
&c. ;  the  Hebrew  idiom  emphasizes  the  fact  that  the  punishment 
is  on  the  eve  of  execution.  The  figure  of  the  tingling  ears  is  also 
found  2  Kings  xxi.  12;  Jer.  xix.  3. 

12.  The  reference  is  clearly  to  the  contents  of  ii.  27-36.  Those 
who  hold  the  latter  section  to  be  entirely  Deuteronomistic  are 
obliged  to  regard  this  verse  as  a  harmonistic  addition  (see 
above  on  ii.  27  ff.). 

from  the  heg'inning'  even  unto  the  end :  lit.  *  beginning  and 
j^  ending ' ;  the  Divine  purpose  with  regard  to  Eli  will  be  completely 
'     and  thoroughly  carried  out. 

13.  Por  I  have  told  him:  the  Massoretic  pointing  continues 
the  backward  reference  to  the  message  of  the  '  man  of  God,'  but 
the  object  of  the  vision  to  Samuel  is  only  made  apparent,  and  the 
latter's  fear  (verse  15)  fully  justified,  if  we  read  with  Klostermann 
and  most  others  :  '  and  thou  shalt  tell  him  that  I  am  about  to  judge 
(i.e.  punish)  his  house  for  ever';  the  Divine  judgement  is 
irrevocable.  The  text  of  the  following  clauses  has  been  altered 
from  religious  motives,  and  is  to  be  restored,  following  the  LXX, 
somewhat  as  follows  :  *  because  he  knew  that  his  sons  were 
blaspheming  God  (see  R.V.  marg.),  and  he  restrained  them  not.' 


I   SAMUEL   3.  14-20.     S  55 

for  ever,  for  the  iniquity  which  he  knew,  because  his  sons 
did  bring  a  curse  upon  themselves,   and  he  restrained 
them  not.     And  therefore  I  have  sworn  unto  the  house  14 
of  Eli,    that  the  iniquity  of  Eli's  house   shall   not   be 
purged  with  sacrifice  nor  offering  for  ever.     And  Samuel  15 
lay  until  the  morning,  and  opened  the  doors  of  the  house 
of  the   Lord.     And   Samuel   feared   to   shew   Eli   the 
vision.     Then  Eli  called  Samuel,  and  said,  Samuel,  my  16 
son.     And  he  said,  Here  am  I.     And  he  said.  What  is  17 
the  thing  that  the  Lord  hath  spoken  unto  thee  ?     I  pray 
thee  hide  it  not  from  me  :  God  do  so  to  thee,  and  more 
also,  if  thou  hide  any  thing  from  me  of  all  the  things  that 
he  spake  unto  thee.     And  Samuel  told  him  every  whit,  iS 
and  hid  nothing  from  him.     And  he  said,  It  is  the  Lord: 
let  hnn  do  what  seemeth  him  good.     And  Samuel  grew,  19 
and  the  Lord  was  with  him,  and  did  let  none  of  his 
words  fall  to  the  ground.     And  all  Israel  from  Dan  even  20 
to  Beer-sheba  knew  that  Samuel  was  estabhshed  to  be 

17.  God  do  so  to  thee,  and  more  also :  this  form  of  oath  is 
especially  common  in  the  Books  of  Samuel  (xiv.  44  ;  xx.  13  ;  xxv. 
22,  &c.),  although  most  frequently  the  punishment  is  invoked  by 
the  speaker  upon  himself,  *  God  do  so  to  me/  &c.  The  formula 
is  to  be  explained  as  '  an  imprecation  originally  connected  with 
the  ceremony  of  slaj'ing  an  animal  at  the  taking  of  an  oath.  The 
parties  pray  that  the  fate  of  the  victim  may  be  theirs'  (H.  P. 
Smith). 

18.  Eli's  pious  resignation  may  be  compared  with  David's  in 
less  distressful  circumstances  (2  Sam.  xv.  26). 

iii.  19-iv.  I*.  From  this  time  onwards  Samuel  takes  his  place 
as  the  leader  of  the  religious  life  of  Israel.  The  reality  of  his  call 
to  be  Yahweh's  prophet  was  confirmed  by  the  fact  that  Yahweh 
'  did  let  hone  of  his  words  fall  to  the  ground,'  i.  e.  become  ineffectual 
or  unfulfilled. 

20.  from  Dan  (in  the  furthest  north)  even  to  Beer-sheba  (in  the 
extreme  south)  :  the  oft-recurring  expression  for  the  whole 
extent  of  Canaan.  From  verse  20  to  iv.  i  inclusive  (see  next 
section),  the  Greek  text  of  Samuel  differs  considerably  from  the 
Hebrew.     The  latter,  especiall}'  in  iii.  21  and  iv.  !"•,  is  clearly   in 


56  I   SAMUEL   3.  21— 4.  i.     SA 

21  a  prophet  of  the  Lord.  And  the  Lord  appeared  again 
in  Shiloh  :  for  the  Lord  revealed  himself  to  Samuel  in 

4  Shiloh  by  the  word  of  the  Lord.  And  the  word  of 
Samuel  came  to  all  Israel. 

[A]  Now  Israel  went  out  against  the  Philistines  to 

some  disorder,  but  it  is  scarcely  possible  now  to  determine  the 
precise  contents  and  order  of  the  original. 

(b)  iv.  i''-vii.  I.  An  invasion  of  the  Philistines  is  followed  by  the 
capture  and  subsequent  return  of  the  Ark. 

In  their  present  connexion  these  three  chapters  form  the 
historical  continuation  of  chs.  i-iii.  That  the  two  sections, 
however,  are  not  from  the  same  hand  is  now  universally 
admitted  by  O.  T.  scholars,  chiefly  on  the  following  grounds  :  (i) 
the  centre  of  interest  now  shifts  from  the  person  of  Samuel,  who 
is  not  once  mentioned  in  iv-vi,  to  the  fortunes  of  the  Ark ;  (2)  the 
fate  of  the  house  of  Eli,  which  the  preceding  narrative  has  led  us 
to  expect  as  the  main  subject  of  the  chapters  before  us,  proves  to 
be  but  an  incident  in  the  story  of  a  greater  disaster  ;  and  (3)  the 
religious  standpoint  of  this  section  is  much  less  advanced  than 
that  of  the  previous  chapters.  In  particular,  the  ideas  here 
associated  with  the  Ark  are  of  a  more  antique  cast  than  those 
reflected  in  almost  any  other  O.  T.  references  thereto.  For  these 
and  other  reasons  critics  generally  are  agreed  in  detecting  in  this 
section  one  of  the  earliest  strata  in  the  Books  of  Samuel.  The 
editor,  however,  has  given  us  but  an  excerpt  from  a  fuller 
narrative  (see  on  iv.  i,  vi.  i),  which  must  originally  have 
contained  some  account  of  the  further  success  of  the  Philistine 
invasion,  including  the  destruction  of  the  sanctuary  of  Shiloh  (see 
on  xxi.  i)  and  the  conquest  of  Central  Palestine  (see  on  xiii.  3, 
a  Philistine  resident  in  Geba\  As  it  now  stands  we  have  (i)  the 
defeat  of  the  Israehtes  by  the  Philistines,  involving  the  capture  of 
the  Ark  of  Yahweh  and  the  subsequent  death  of  Eli  (ch.  iv)  ;  (2)  the 
fortunes  of  the  Ark  in  the  counti-y  of  the  Philistines,  by  which 
the  superiority  of  Yahweh  to  the  native  deities  is  vindicated  (v)  ; 
and  (3)  the  restoration  of  the  Ark  to  Israelite  territory  (vi). 

iv.   1-5.     A   Philistine  invasion  and  victory  lead  the  Israelites  to 
fetch  the  Ark  of  Yahweh  from  Shiloh. 

1.  The  fuller  LXX  text  is  to  be  preferred  :  '  And  it  came  to  pass 
in  those  days  that  the  Philistines  were  gathered  together  to  battle 
against  Israel,  and  Israel  went  out  against  them  to  battle,'  &c. 
This  is  the  first  mention  in  Samuel  of  these  powerful  enemies  of 
Israel,  who  were  destined  to  play  so  large  a  part  in  the  establish- 


I    SAMUEL   4.  2,  3.     A  57 

battle,  and  pitched  beside  Eben-ezer  :  and  the  Philistines 
pitched  in  Aphek.  And  the  Philistines  put  themselves  2 
in  array  against  Israel :  and  when  they  joined  battle, 
Israel  was  smitten  before  the  Philistines :  and  they  slew 
of  the  army  in  the  field  about  four  thousand  men.  And  3 
when  the  people  were  come  into  the  camp,  the  elders  of 
Israel  said,  Wherefore  hath  the  Lord  smitten  us  to-day 
before   the   Philistines?     Let  us  fetch  the  ark   of  the 

ment  of  the  Hebrew  monarchy.  The  Hebrews  knew  that  the 
Philistines  {Pelishtim),  like  themselves,  were  foreign  invaders, 
whose  original  home  is  given  asCaphtor  (Amos  ix.  7  ;  Jer.  xlvii.  4, 
Sec).  The  older  identification  of  Caphtor  with  the  Delta  of  the 
Nile  is  now  abandoned  in  favour  of  Crete  or,  on  better  grounds, 
the  southern  coast  of  Asia  Minor.  The  Pelishthn  are  undoubtedly 
the  Fulusaii  of  the  Egyptian  monuments,  the  leading  tribe  among 
a  number  that  invaded  Palestine  b}'  land  and  sea  early  in  the  reign 
of  Ramses  HI,  circa  1200  B.C.  In  the  time  of  the  Judges  they  are 
already  in  possession  of  the  great  maritime  plain  from  Joppa 
southwards,  the  Philistia  of  the  R.V.  (so  uniformly  for  Palestina 
of  A.V.  %  a  name  which  in  its  later  Graeco  Latin  form,  Palestina, 
was  extended  to  the  whole  country  west  of  the  Jordan.  As 
a  race  of  Aryan  extraction,  the  Philistines  did  not  practise  the 
Semitic  rite  of  circumcision,  hence  the  opprobrious  epithet  '  the 
uncircumcised '  so  often  applied  to  them  by  the  Hebrews. 
Politically  they  formed  a  confederacy  under  the  control  of  five 
'  lords,'  whose  seats  of  government  were  the  cities  of  Ashdod, 
Ekron,  Ashkelon,  Gaza,  and  Gath.  Ov/ing  largely  to  their  superior 
political  and  military  organization,  they  successfully  contested,  for 
at  least  a  century,  the  hegemony  of  Central  and  Southern  Palestine 
with  the  Israelites  until  their  power  was  final)}- broken  by  David. 
According  to  i  Sam.  xiv,  52,  '  there  was  sore  war  against  the 
Philistines  all  the  days  of  Saul."  See  further  Moore's  article 
'  Philistines'  in  EBi.^  vol.  iii. 

E'ben-ezer:  'stone  of  help,'  is  not  to  be  identified  off-hand 
with  the  Ebenezer  of  vii.  12  (which  see),  but  must  be  placed  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Aphek,  which  is  probabl}'  located  at  some 
spot  in  the  plain  of  Sharon  commanding  the  entrance  to  the  plain 
of  Dothan,  the  natural  line  of  march  for  an  attack  on  Central 
Palestine. 

2.  in  the  field:    in   the  open   country  where   the   Philistines 
could  use  their  famous  war-chariots  (xiii.  5  ;  2  Sam.  i.  6). 

3.  For  the  significance  of  the  Ark  and  the  fuller  designations 
employed  here  and  in  verse  4,  see  note  A  in  the  Appendix. 


58  I   SAMUEL   4.  4-9.     A 

covenant  of  the  Lord  out  of  Shiloh  unto  us,  that  it  may 
come  among  us,  and  save  us  out  of  the  hand  of  our 

4  enemies.  So  the  people  sent  to  Shiloh,  and  they 
brought  from  thence  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  the  Lord 
of  hosts,  which  sitteth  upon  the  cherubim :  and  the  two 
sons  of  Eli,  Hophni  and  Phinehas,  were  there  with  the 

5  ark  of  the  covenant  of  God.  And  when  the  ark  of  the 
covenant  of  the  Lord  came  into  the  camp,  all  Israel 
shouted  with  a  great  shout,  so  that  the  earth  rang  again. 

6  And  when  the  Philistines  heard  the  noise  of  the  shout, 
they  said.  What  meaneth  the  noise  of  this  great  shout  in 
the  camp  of  the  Hebrews  ?    And  they  understood  that 

7  the  ark  of  the  Lord  was  come  into  the  camp.  And  the 
Philistines  were  afraid,  for  they  said,  God  is  come  into 
the  camp.     And  they  said,  Woe  unto  us  !    for  there  hath 

8  not  been  such  a  thing  heretofore.  Woe  unto  us !  who 
shall  deliver  us  out  of  the  hand  of  these  mighty  gods  ? 
these  are  the  gods  that  smote  the   Egyptians  with  all 

9  manner  of  plagues  in  the  wilderness.  Be  strong,  and 
quit  yourselves  like  men,  O  ye  Philistines,  that  ye  be  not 
sen^ants  unto  the  Hebrews,  as  they  have  been  to  you  : 

4.  Omit  '  there '  with  LXX.  The  two  sons  of  Eli  accompan}' 
the  Ark  to  the  camp  as  its  bearers    cf.  2  Sam.  xv.  29). 

iv.  6-1 1.  Consternation  of  the  Philistines,  Israel  is  again 
defeated,  and  the  Ark  capt tired. 

6.  the  Hebrews  :  the  name  by  which  the  children  of  Israel 
were  known  to  the  surrounding  nations  (xiv.  ii  ;  xxix.  3).  6^ 
should  be  taken  along  with  verse  7  :  *  and  when  they  understood 
.  .  .  the  Philistines  were  afraid,'  &c. 

7.  God  {Elohini)  is  coiuc  :  Hebrew  writers  carefully  avoid 
putting  the  sacred  name  Yahweh  into  the  mouth  of  a  non-Israelite. 
But  such  an  unqualified  confession  is  strange  in  the  present  con- 
nexion, and  we  should  read,  as  suggested  by  LXX  (B)  :  *  these  are 
their  gods  (cf.  8f.),  they  have  come  to  them  to  the  camp.' 

8.  in  the  wilderness :  either  an  excusable  inaccurac}',  or 
a  copyist's  slip  for  the  v\-ord  signifying  'and  with  pestilence' 
(Wellhausen), 


I    SAMUEL   4.  10-17.     A  59 

quit  5'ourselves  like  men,  and  fight.     And  the  Phihstines  10 
fought,  and  Israel  was  smitten,  and  they  fled  every  man 
to  his  tent :  and  there  was  a  very  great  slaughter  ;  for  there 
fell  of  Israel  thirty  thousand  footmen.     And  the  ark  of  11 
God  was  taken  ;  and  the  two  sons  of  Eli,  Hophni  and 
Phinehas,  were  slain.     And  there  ran  a  man  of  Benjamin  12 
out  of  the  army,  and  came  to  Shiloh  the  same  day  with 
his  clothes  rent,  and  with  earth  upon  his  head.     And  13 
when  he  came,  lo,  Eli  sat  upon  his  seat  by  the  way  side 
watching :   for  his  heart  trembled  for  the  ark  of  God, 
And  when  the  man  came  into  the  city,  and  told  it,  all 
the  city  cried  out.     And  when  Eli  heard  the  noise  of  the  14 
cr}nng,  he  said,  What  meaneth  the  noise  of  this  tumult  ? 
And  the  man  hasted,  and  came  and  told  Eli.     Now  Eli  i;- 
was  ninety  and  eight  years  old  ;  and  his  eyes  were  set, 
thai  he  could  not  see.     And  the  man  said  unto  Eli,  16 
I  am  he  that  came  out  of  the  army,  and  I  fled  to-day  out 
of  the  army.     And  he  said,  How  went  the  matter,  my 
son?     And  he  that  brought  the  tidings  answered  and  17 
said,  Israel  is  fled  before  the  Philistines,  and  there  hath 


iv.  12-18.  How  the  tidings  reached  Shiloh  and  haw  they  affected 
Eli. 

12.  To  rend  one's  clothes  and  to  put  earth  or  ashes  on  one's 
head  were  the  univei-sal  signs  of  mourning  for  the  dead  (2  Sam. 
i,  2),  or  for  a  national  calamity'  (Joshua  vii.  6 ;  2  Sam.  xv.  32). 

13.  The  M.T.  is  here  in  some  disorder,  otherwise  Eli,  if  he  sat 
toy  the  way  side  watching,  would  have  been  the  first  to  receive 
the  fugitive's  report.  The  LXX  text  gives  a  better  reading:  'Lo, 
Eli  sat  upon  his  seat  beside  the  gate  [probabl}^  the  gate  of  the 
temple  at  Shiloh,  as  in  i.  9],  watching  the  way,'  a  reading  con- 
firmed by  verse  18. 

15.  This  verse  interrupts  the  narrative,  and  is  probably  a  later 
insertion  based,  in  part,  on  iii.  2.  The  fact  that  Eli  was  an  old 
man  is  stated  by  the  original  author  in  verse  18. 

17.  The  elements  of  the  fourfold  disaster  are  skilfully  arranged 
— defeat,  loss  of  life,  personal  bereavement,  and  finalh',  the 
climax  of  all,  the  capture  of  the  Ark. 


6o  I    SAMUEL  4.  iS— 5.  i.     A 

been  also  a  great  slaughter  among  the  people,  and  thy 
two  sons  also,  Hophni  and  Phinehas,  are  dead,  and  the 

18  ark  of  God  is  taken.  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  he 
made  mention  of  the  ark  of  God,  that  he  fell  from  off 
his  seat  backward  by  the  side  of  the  gate,  and  his  neck 
brake,  and  he  died :  for  he  was  an  old  man,  and  heavy. 

19  And  he  had  judged  Israel  forty  years.  And  his  daughter 
in  law,  Phinehas'  wife,  was  with  child,  near  to  be  de- 
livered :  and  when  she  heard  the  tidings  that  the  ark  of 
God  was  taken,  and  that  her  father  in  law  and  her  hus- 
band were  dead,  she  bowed  herself  and  brought  forth ; 

20  for  her  pains  came  upon  her.  And  about  the  time  of 
her  death  the  women  that  stood  by  her  said  unto  her, 
Fear  not ;  for  thou  hast  brought  forth  a  son.     But  she 

21  answered  not,  neither  did  she  regard  it.  And  she 
named  the  child  Ichabod,  saying,  The  glory  is  departed 
from  Israel  :    because  the  ark  of  God  was  taken,  and 

22  because  of  her  father  in  law  and  her  husband.  And  she 
said,  The  glory  is  departed  from  Israel ;  for  the  ark  of 
God  is  taken. 

5      Now  the  Philistines  had  taken  the  ark  of  God,  and  they 

18.  forty  years  :  LXX  twenty.  In  chs.  i-iii  Eli  is  represented 
solely  as  a  priest,  not  as  a  'judge'  ;  the  clause  is  editorial. 

iv.  19-22.  The  effect  of  the  tidings,  now  aggravated  by  the  death 
of  her  father-in-law,  on  the  ivife  of  Phinehas, 

21.  Ichabod:  Heb.  I-kahod—l^o-QXoxy,  the  reference  being,  as 
explained  in  the  text,  primarily  to  the  capture  of  the  Ark,  but  in- 
cluding also  the  loss  of  those  who  were  its  appointed  priests. 

22.  Added  as  a  corrective  to  21^  by  an  editor  or  reader  ac- 
quainted with  the  character  of  Eli's  sons  as  depicted  in  the 
younger  narrative,  chs.  i-iii. 

V.  1-5.  The  Ark  and  the  image  of  Dagon.  The  underlying 
idea  in  chs.  v-vi  is  the  superiority  of  the  God  of  the  Hebrews, 
who  throughout  this  section  is  so  inseparably  associated  with  the 
Ark  as  to  be  almost  identified  with  it  (see  Appendix,  note  A),  and 
whose  greater  power  is  manifested  by  the  misfortunes  of  which 
the  chief  deity  and  the  wliole  race  of  the  Philistines  are  victims. 


I   SAMUEL  5.  2-5.     A  6i 

brought    it    from    Eben-ezer   unto    Ashdod.     And    the  a 
Philistines  took  the  ark  of  God,  and  brought  it  into  the 
house  of  Dagon,  and  set  it  by  Dagon.     And  when  they  3 
of  Ashdod  arose  early  on  the  morrow,  behold,  Dagon 
was  fallen  upon  his  face  to  the  ground  before  the  ark  of 
the  Lord.     And  they  took  Dagon,  and  set  him  in  his 
place  again.     And  when  they  arose  early  on  the  morrow  4 
morning,  behold,  Dagon  was  fallen  upon  his  face  to  the 
ground  before  the  ark  of  the  Lord  ;   and  the  head  of 
Dagon  and  both  the  palms  of  his  hands  lay  cut  off  upon 
the  threshold  ;  only  the  stump  of  Dagon  was  left  to  him. 
Therefore  neither  the  priests  of  Dagon,   nor  any  that  5 

1.  Ashdod:  the  modern  Esdud^  halfway  between  Joppa  and 
Gaza,  and  about  three  miles  from  the  coast,  was  at  this  period 
apparently  the  chief  of  the  five  cities  of  the  Philistine  confederation 
(Pentapolis),  a  position  for  which  its  central  situation  marked 
it  out. 

2.  The  Ark  is  deposited  beside  the  statue  of  Dagon,  in  the  cella 
or  adytum  of  the  latter's  temple.  According  as  the  name  Dagon 
is  to  be  connected  with  dag,  'fish,'  or  with  dagan,  'corn,'  this 
deity  will  have  been  originally  a  god  of  the  sea,  or  a  god  of 
agriculture.  The  fairly  numerous  place-names  in  Palestine 
into  which  the  name  enters  render  it  probable  that  Dagon  was 
originally  a  Canaanite  deity,  a  conclusion  in  favour  of  the  second 
of  the  alternative  etymologies  just  given.  Temples  were  dedicated 
to  Dagon  in  Gaza  (Judges  xvi.  21  ff.)  and  Ashdod — the  latter  being 
still  in  existence  in  the  time  of  the  Maccabees  (i  Mace.  x.  71  fF.) — 
and  doubtless  in  the  other  cities  as  well.  Hebrews  and  Philistines 
alike  deposited  military  trophies  in  temples  (cf.  xxi.  9  with  xxxi. 
10,  I  Chron.  x.  10). 

3.  Dag'on  was  fallen :  note  the  identification  of  the  god  with  his 
stone  image.  The  latter  is  found  prostrate,  but  as  yet  intact, 
before  the  Ark  of  Yahweh,  as  if  in  acknowledgement  of  Yahweh's 
superiority,  of  which  verse  4  brings  still  more  convincing  evi- 
dence. 

4.  A  word  signifying  *  trunk '  or  sttuup  has  dropped  out  of  the 
last  clause  of  the  Hebrew,  as  the  Versions  attest. 

5.  A  note  tracing  the  custom  of  leaping  over  the  threshold  of 
the  fr/Zrt  of  Dagon  to  this  contretentps.  The  custom,  however,  is 
found  in  many  ancient  cults  cf.  Zeph.  i.  9,  and  see  Trumbull, 
The  Threshold  Covenant,  n6  f.). 


■63  I   SAMUEL  5.  e-ii.     A 

come   into    Dagon's    house,   tread  on   the   threshold   of 
Dagon  in  Ashdod,  unto  this  day. 

6  But  the  hand  of  the  Lord  was  heavy  upon  them  of 
Ashdod,  and  he  destroyed  them,  and  smote  them  with 

7  tumours,  even  Ashdod  and  the  borders  thereof.  And 
when  the  men  of  Ashdod  saw  that  it  was  so,  they  said, 
The  ark  of  the  God  of  Israel  shall  not  abide  with  us  :  for 
his  hand  is  sore  upon  us,  and  upon  Dagon  our  god. 

S  They  sent  therefore  and  gathered  all  the  lords  of  the 
Phihstines  unto  them,  and  said,  What  shall  we  do  with 
the  ark  of  the  God  of  Israel  ?  And  they  answered.  Let 
the  ark  of  the  God  of  Israel  be  carried  about  unto  Gath. 
And  they  carried  the  ark  of  the  God  of  Israel  about 

9  thither.  And  it  was  so,  that,  after  they  had  carried  it 
about,  the  hand  of  the  Lord  was  against  the  city  with  a 
very  great  discomfiture  :  and  he  smote  the  men  of  the 
city,  both  small  and  great,  and  tumours  brake  out  upon 

10  them.  So  they  sent  the  ark  of  God  to  Ekron.  And  it 
came  to  pass,  as  the  ark  of  God  came  to  Ekron,  that  the 
Ekronites  cried  out,  saying,  They  have  brought  about 
the  ark  of  the  God  of  Israel  to  us,  to  slay  us  and  our 

11  people.     They  sent  therefore  and  gathered  together  all 

V.  6-12.  Further  evidence  of  the  displeasure  and  power  of  Yahweh 
in  the  outbreak  of  plague. 

6.  Sickness  and  disease  are  referred  by  the  O.T.  writers  to  the 
direct  action  of  God  without  the  intervention  of  secondary  or 
contributory  causes.  In  this  case  it  is  now  agreed  that  some 
variety  of  bubonic  plague  is  intended.  The  Hebrew  word  for 
'tumours'  does  not  signify  'haemorrhoids,'  the  *  emerods'  of  A.V., 
but,  as  in  R.V.  marg.,  'plague  boils  '  or  buboes. 

8.  The  site  of  Gath  has  not  yet  been  recovered.  It  is  usually 
identified  with  the  modern  Tel-es-Safi,  the  Blanche  Garde  of  the 
Crusaders,  about  sixteen  miles  east  of  Ashdod.  See  R.V.  marg. 
for  the  LXX  addition  to  this  verse,  and  to  vi.  i,  also  the  note 
on  vi.  4. 

10.  Ekron :  the  most  northerly  member  of  the  Pentapolis,  the 
modern  Tel-Akir, 


I    SAMUEL  5.  12-6.  4.     A       '         63 

the  lords  of  the  Phih'stines,  and  they  said,  Send  away  the 
ark  of  the  God  of  Israel,  and  let  it  go  again  to  its  own 
place,  that  it  slay  us  not,  and  our  people  :  for  there  was 
a  deadly  discomfiture  throughout  all  the  city ;  the  harid 
of  God  was  very  heavy  there.  And  the  men  that  died  12 
not  were  smitten  with  the  tumours :  and  the  cry  of  the 
city  went  up  to  heaven. 

And  the  ark  of  the  Lord  was  in  the  country  of  the  6 
Philistines  seven  months.     And  the  PhiHstines  called  for  2 
the  priests  and  the  diviners,  saying,  AVhat  shall  we  do 
with  the  ark  of  the  Lord  ?  shew  us  wherewith  we  shall 
send  it  to  its  place.     And  they  said,  If  ye  send  away  3 
the  ark  of  the  God  of  Israel,  send  it  not  empty  ;   but  in 
any  wise  return  him  a  guilt  offering :  then  ye  shall  be 
healed,  and  it  shall  be  known  to  you  why  his  hand  is  not 
removed  from  you.     Then  said  they.  What  shall  be  the  4 
guilt  offering  which  we  shall  return  to  him  ?     i\nd  they 
said,  Five  golden  tumours,  and  five  golden  mice,  accord- 

11.  Here  the  source  of  their  misfortunes  is  ascribed  by  the 
Philistines  indifferently  to  the  Ark  and  to  the  'hand  of  God.' 

vi.  1-18.  The  restoration  of  the  Ark.  The  original  narrative 
appears  to  have  been  somewhat  curtailed  by  the  editor,  for  verses 
I  ff.  do  not  seem  a  natural  continuation  of  v.  12. 

3.  a  snult  offering  (Heb.  'dshdm)  :  R.V.  marg.  '  trespass 
offering,\reversing  the  position  of  these  terms  in  A.V.  The  word 
occurs  only  here  and  in  3  Kings  xii.  16  outside  of  the  Priests'  Code, 
and  denotes  primarily  compensation  or  reparation  '  for  the  infringe- 
ment of  the  rights  of  another,  or  for  misappropriation  of  his 
property,'  as  in  the  present  case. 

4  f.  Pive  golden  ttunours :  for  the  conception  underlying  this 
form  of  offering,  see  Frazer's  Golden  Bough,  2nd  edition,  ii.  426  f. 
Cf.  the  analogous  case  of  the  brazen  serpent  (Num.  xxi.  4ff.). 

five  golden  mice :  the  first  indication  in  the  M.T.  of  what, 
at  first  sight,  seems  an  additional  plague  of  mice,  as  expressly 
stated  in  the  Greek  text  of  verse  6,  vi.  i  (see  R.V,  marg.).  This 
view  of  the  meaning  of  the  golden  mice,  however,  is  at  variance 
with  the  words  that  follow  :  '  for  one  plague  was  on  you  all.'  The 
Hebrew  word  for  *  mouse,'  moreover,  is  a  comprehensive  term 


64  I   SAMUEL   6.  5-9.     A 

ing  to  the  number  of  the  lords  of  the  Philistines  :  for  one 

5  plague  was  on  you  all,  and  on  your  lords.  Wherefore 
ye  shall  make  images  of  your  tumours,  and  images  of 
your  mice  that  mar  the  land ;  and  ye  shall  give  glory 
unto  the  God  of  Israel :  peradventure  he  will  lighten  his 
hand  from  off  you,  and  from  off  your  gods,  and  from  off 

6  your  land.  Wherefore  then  do  ye  harden  your  hearts, 
as  the  Egyptians  and  Pharaoh  hardened  their  hearts? 
when  he  had  wrought  wonderfully  among  them,  did  they 

7  not  let  the  people  go,  and  they  departed  ?  Now  there- 
fore take  and  prepare  you  a  new  cart,  and  two  milch 
kine,  on  which  there  hath  come  no  yoke,  and  tie  the 
kine  to  the  cart,  and  bring  their  calves  home  from  them: 

8  and  take  the  ark  of  the  Lord,  and  lay  it  upon  the  cart ; 
and  put  the  jewels  of  gold,  which  ye  return  him  for  a 
guilt  offering,  in  a  coffer  by  the  side  thereof ;  and  send 

9  it  away,  that  it  may  go.  And  see,  if  it  goeth  up  by  the 
way  of  its  own  border  to  Beth-shemesh,  then  he  hath 
done  us  this  great  evil :  but  if  not,  then  we  shall  know 

for  numerous  small  rodents,  and  the  introduction  of  the  'mice 
that  destroy,  or  spread  destruction  through,  the  country ' — not 
'  that  destroy  the  crops ' — is  to  be  explained  by  the  well-established 
fact  that  rats  and  similar  house  vermin  'are  at  once  the  earliest 
victims  and  the  most  dangerous  propagators  of  the  bubonic  plague ' 
(see  Dr.  Gibson  in  Expository  Times,  xii.  378-380 ;  cf.  ibid.  xv. 
(1904)  476). 

6.  The  margin  '  when  he  had  made  a  mock  [or  made  sport]  of 
them '  is  preferable,  cf.  xxxi.  4  ;  Num.  xxii.  29.  The  reference  is 
to  Exod.  x.  2  (J). 

7-9.  The  procedure  here  recommended  is  entirely  in  the 
spirit  of  antiquity,  which  found  omens  in  so  many  ways  that  appear 
strange  to  the  modern  mind.  For  other  omens  see  xiv.  9  f.  ; 
2  Sam.  v.  24.  The  two  milch  kine,  like  the  new  cart,  are  to  be 
such  as  had  never  been  used  for  ordinary  purposes,  as  in  the 
parallel  cases  Num.  xix.  2  ;  Deut.  xxi.  3.  All  are  'virgin'  in  the 
sense  in  which  we  speak  of  '  virgin  soil.' 

9.  lie  hath  done,  &c,  :  the  meaning  is  that  if  the  mother-kine, 
instead  of  making  direct  for  their  calves,  took  the  road  to  Beth- 


I   SAMUEL   G.  I0-T6.     A  65 

that  it  is  not  his  hand  that  smote  us ;  it  was  a  chance 
that  happened  to  us.     And  the  men  did  so  ;  and  took  10 
two  milch  kine,  and  tied  them  to  the  cart,  and  shut  up 
their  calves  at  home:  and  they  put  the  ark  of  the  Lord  ii 
upon  the  cart,  and  the  coffer  with  the  mice  of  gold  and 
the  images  of  their  tumours.     And  the  kine  took  the  la 
straight  way  by  the  way  to   Beth-shemesh ;    they  went 
along  the  high  way,  lowing  as  they  went,  and  turned  not 
aside  to  the  right  hand  or  to  the  left ;  and  the  lords  of 
the  Philistines  went  after  them  unto  the  border  of  Beth- 
shemesh.     And  they  of  Beth-shemesh  were  reaping  their  13 
wheat  harvest  in  the  valley  :  and  they  lifted  up  their  eyes, 
and  saw  the  ark,  and  rejoiced  to  see  it.     And  the  cart  came  14 
into  the  field  of  Joshua  the  Beth-shemite,  and  stood  there, 
where  there  was  a  great  stone :  and  they  clave  the  wood 
of  the  cart,  and  offered  up  the  kine  for  a  burnt  offering 
unto  the  Lord.     And  the  Levites  took  down  the  ark  of  15 
the  Lord,  and  the  coffer  that  was  with  it,  wherein  the 
jewels  of  gold  were,  and  put  them  on  the  great  stone : 
and  the  men  of  Beth-shemesh  offered  burnt  offerings  and 
sacrificed  sacrifices  the  same  day  unto  the  Lord.     And  16 

shemesh— the  nearest  point  across  the  frontier — it  would  be  clear 
that  a  course  so  entirely  contrary  to  their  natural  instincts  could 
only  be  due  to  a  special  impulse  from  the  God  of  the  Hebrews. 
The  source  of  the  present  distress  would  then  be  evident.  Beth- 
shemesh,  *  house  (or  temple),  of  the  sun,'  is  the  modtm  At'n Shatns, 
'  fountain  of  the  sun,'  at  the  mouth  of  the  Wadt  Sarar,  the  ancient 
*  Valley  of  Sorek'  (Judges  xvi.  4^. 

13.  rejoiced  to  see  it:  read  by  a  slight  change  :  'came  rejoic- 
ing to  meet  it'  (LXX). 

14.  a  great  stone :  cf.  xiv.  33,  in  both  cases  clearly  *  an  altar- 
stone.'  The  idea  appears  to  be  that  the  kine  spontaneously 
offered  themselves  as  a  sacrifice  {Fel.  Serii?  309). 

15.  A  post-exilic  addition  by  some  one  who  missed  the  services 
of  the  Levites,  the  proper  ministers  of  the  Ark  according  to  the 
Priests'  Code.  The  details  are  impossible  after  verse  14,  which 
has  its  proper  continuation  in  verse  16. 

F 


66  I   SAMUEL  6.  17-21.     A 

when  the  five  lords  of  the  Philistines  had  seen  it,  they 
returned  to  Ekron  the  same  day. 

17  And  these  are  the  golden  tumours  which  the  Philis- 
tines returned  for  a  guilt  offering  unto  the  Lord  ;  for 
Ashdod  one,  for  Gaza  one,  for  Ashkelon  one,  for  Gath 

18  one,  for  Ekron  one  ;  and  the  golden  mice,  according  to 
the  number  of  all  the  cities  of  the  Philistines  belonging 
to  the  five  lords,  both  of  fenced  cities  and  of  country  vil- 
lages :  even  unto  the  great  stone,  whereon  they  set  down 
the  ark  of  the  Lord,  which  stone  remaineth  unto  this  day 

19  in  the  field  of  Joshua  the  Beth-shemite.  And  he  smote 
of  the  men  of  Beth-shemesh,  because  they  had  looked 
into  the  ark  of  the  Lord,  even  he  smote  of  the  people 
seventy  men,  and  fifty  thousand  men :  and  the  people 
mourned,  because  the  Lord  had  smitten  the  people  with 

20  a  great  slaughter.  And  the  men  of  Beth-shemesh  said, 
Who  is  able  to  stand  before  the  Lord,  this  holy  God  ? 

2 1  and  to  whom  shall  he  go  up  from  us  ?     And  they  sent 

17-18*  (to  'villages'),  another  addition  in  the  'repetitious' 
style  of  late  writers.  The  large  number  of  mice  here  implied  is 
at  variance  with  verse  4  (y?w  mice). 

18**:  read,  with  a  slight  emendation:  'and  the  great  stone 
upon  which  ...  is  a  witness  unto  this  day  in  the  field,'  &c. 

19.  The  M.T.  is  again  in  disorder.  The  text  from  which  the 
Greek  translators  worked  seems  to  have  run  thus  (see  R,V.  marg.): 

*  Now  the  sons  of  Jeconiah  rejoiced  not  among  (with)  the  men  of 
Beth-shemesh  when  they  beheld  (with  joy)  the  ark  of  Yahweh.' 
This  gives  at  least  an  intelligible  motive,  indifference  to  the 
honour  of  Yahweh,  for  the  punishment  that  follows :  '  and  he 
(Yahweh)  slew  of  them  seventy  men.'     The  absurd  exaggeration 

*  and  fifty  thousand  men '  is  an  evident  gloss. 

20.  this  I10I7  God:  different  aspects  of  the  Divine  character 
are  expressed  by  the  term  '  holy '  in  different  contexts.  See 
Davidson,  Theology  of  the  O.  T.,  144  ff.,  Hhe  Holiness  of  God.' 
Here  the  majesty  and  might  of  Yahweh,  and  His  zeal  for  His  own 
honour  are  implied.  The  incident  is  a  striking  illustration  of 
Deut.  iv.  24:  'Yahweh,  thy  God,  is  a  devouring  fire,'  bringing 
death  to  those  who  do  Him  dishonour.  Cf.  Joshua  xxiv.  19,  *  he  is 
an  holy  God  ;  he  is  a  jealous  God.' 


I   SAiMUEL    7.  I,  2.     AD  67 

messengers  to  the  inhabitants  of  Kiriath-jearim,  saying, 
The  Philistines  have  brought  again  the  ark  of  the  Lord  ; 
come  ye  down,  and  fetch  it  up  to  you.  And  the  men  of 
Kiriath-jearim  came,  and  fetched  up  the  ark  of  the  Lord, 
and  brought  it  into  the  house  of  Abinadab  in  the  hill, 
and  sanctified  Eleazar  his  son  to  keep  the  ark  of  the 
Lord. 

[D]  And  it  came  to  pass,  from  the  day  that  the  ark  abode 


21.  Kiriath-jearim:  'the  city  of  thickets,'  usually  identified 
with  Kiryat-el-Enab,  nine  miles  west  of  Jerusalem,  and  about  the 
same  distance  north-east  of  Beth-shemesh.  It  was  a  Canaanite 
city,  one  of  four  which  formed  the  Gibeonite  league  (Josh.  ix.  17), 
and  now  almost  certainly  under  Philistine  suzeraintj'.  For  the 
bearing  of  this  on  the  subsequent  history  of  the  Ark  see  on  2  Sam. 
vi.  r,  and  more  fully  in  the  Appendix. 

vii.  I.  sanctified :  the  form  of  the  verb  here  used  signifies  to 
set  apart  persons,  things,  or  places  for  a  sacred  use ;  the  person 
thus  set  apart  became  '  holy.'  and  therefore  qualified  to  perform 
the  necessary  rites,  and  even  to  handle  the  Ark  with  impunity 
(see  Davidson,  Theology,  145). 

As  indicated  in  the  introduction  to  this  section,  the  original 
narrative  doubtless  contained  further  details  of  the  invasion.  In 
the  present  text  of  Samuel  we  have  no  explanation  of  the  Philistine 
ascendancy  over  Israel,  such  as  is  implied  by  the  presence  of 
a  Philistine  officer  with  the  necessary  garrison  at  Gibeah  (xiii.  19  ff.) 
and  at  Beth-lehem  (2  Sam.  xxiii.  14).  One  result  of  the  present 
campaign,  at  all  events,  was  almost  certainly  the  destruction  of 
the  sanctuary  at  Shiloh,  to  which  Jeremiah  makes  repeated 
allusion  (vii.  14,  xxvi.  6  ;  cf  Ps.  Ixxviii.  60,  and  the  note  on 
ch.  xxi.  I  below). 

(c)  vii.  2-17.  Samuel  the  theocratic  Judge. 

The  interest  of  the  narrative  once  more  centres  in  Samuel,  who 
appears  in  this  remarkable  chapter  as  the  theocratic  ruler  or  judge 
of  all  Israel.  After  prevailing  upon  his  contemporaries  to  abandon 
the  worship  of  the  heathen  deities  of  the  Canaanites,  Samuel  sum- 
mons the  tribes  to  a  great  religious  assembly  at  Mizpah.  Here 
a  national  fast  is  held  accompanied  by  a  public  sacrifice  and  con- 
fession of  the  nation's  sins.  While  the  sacrifice  is  proceeding, 
the  Philistines  suddenly  attack  the  assembled  worshippers,  but 
are  miraculously  repulsed.    So  complete,  indeed,  is  their  defeat  that 

F  2 


68  I   SAMUEL  7.  3.     D 

in  Kiriath-jearim,  that  the  time  was  long ;    for  it  was 

twenty  years  :  and  all  the  house  of  Israel  lamented  after 

3  the  Lord.     And  Samuel  spake  unto  all  the  house  of 

Israel,  saying,  If  ye  do  return  unto  the  Lord  with  all 

they  cease  from  further  attacks  during  the  remainder  of  Samuel's 
lifetime,  while  a  large  part,  at  least,  of  the  Philistine  territory  is 
ceded  to  Israel.  During  Samuel's  judgeship,  also,  there  is  peace 
between  Israel  and  the  former  inhabitants  of  the  country,  and  an 
ideal  state  of  society  generally  prevails.  How  far  this  highly 
coloured  picture  of  Israel  in  the  period  preceding  the  institution  of 
the  monarchy  is  removed  from  the  true  historical  situation  as 
reflected  in  our  oldest  sources  will  appear  in  due  course.  We  have 
here  rather  a  conspicuous  illustration  of  that  idealization  of  the 
early  history  of  Israel  which  is  a  characteristic  mark  of  what  is 
known  as  the  Deuteronomic  school  of  Hebrew  historians.  The 
nearest  parallel  is  found  in  the  'framework' of  the  Book  of  Judges 
(see  Thatcher,  Judges,  pp.  5  fif.),  a  product  of  the  same  school. 
The  '  almost  rhythmic  alternation '  of  apostasy  and  oppression, 
penitence  and  deliverance  which  characterizes  the  schematic  setting 
of  the  narratives  of  the  greater  judges  is  evident  in  the  present 
narrative.  Samuel,  indeed,  is  here  represented  as  the  last  and 
greatest  of  the  judges,  God  having  wrought  through  his  interces- 
sion a  more  marvellous  deliverance  than  an3'  preceding  judge  had 
achieved.     (See  further,  Introduction,  sect,  iv.) 

2.  for  it  was  twenty  years  :  it  is  doubtful  if  much  reliance  can 
be  placed  on  this  note  of  time.  The  sentence  in  the  original  is 
awkwardly  constructed,  and  perhaps  had  no  such  note  originally, 
the  writer  having  pictured  the  reformation  under  Samuel  as  fol- 
lowing immediately  on  the  return  of  the  Ark.  This  view  is  at 
least  in  harmony  with  the  Deuteronomistic  chronology  of  Judges 
xiii.  I,  according  to  which  the  Philistine  oppression  lasted  forty 
years,  of  which  twenty  were  passed  under  Samson  (Judges  xv. 
20,  xvi.  31)  and  twenty  under  Eli  (i  Sam.  iv.  18,  LXX). 

lamented  after  the  IiOBD  :  the  verb  thus  rendered  denotes 
elsewhere  '  to  lament  for  the  dead,'  a  meaning  hardly  suitable  here. 
A  slight  change  gives  'and  Israel  turned  afterYahweh'  (cf.  'return,' 
verse  3).  Samuel,  it  will  be  noted,  is  throughout  brought  into 
relation  with  '  all  the  house  of  Israel,'  just  as  in  the  framework  of 
Judges  the  local  or  tribal  heroes  of  the  older  narratives  are  trans- 
formed into  theocratic  rulers  of  all  Israel. 

3.  The  call  to  repentance.  Any  good  reference  Bible  will  show 
the  resemblance  in  phraseology  between  verses  3,  4,  Deuteronomy 
and  the  Deuteronomic  parts  of  Judges  (cf.  especially  Judges  x. 
10-16  with  the  present  passage). 


I    SAMUEL  7.  4-6.     D  69 

your  heart,  then  put  away  the  strange  gods  and  the 
Ashtaroth  from  among  you,  and  prepare  your  hearts 
unto  the  Lord,  and  serve  him  only  :  and  he  will  deliver 
you  out  of  the  hand  of  the  Philistines.  Then  the  chil-  4 
dren  of  Israel  did  put  away  the  Baalim  and  the  Ash- 
taroth, and  served  the  Lord  only. 

And  Samuel  said,  Gather  all  Israel  to  Mizpah,  and  I  5 
will  pray  for  you  unto  the  Lord.     And  they  gathered  6 

the  strangfe  g'ods:  foreign,  non-Israelite  deities,  such  as  were 
worshipped  by  the  native  races  of  Canaan — the  Baahm  of  verse  4. 

the  Ashtaroth:  the  Hebrew  plural  of  Ashtoreth,  the  god- 
dess whom  the  Babylonians  called  Ishtar  and  the  Greeks  Astarte 
(cf.  xxxi.  io\.  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  widely  distributed 
of  Semitic  deities.  Among  the  Western  Semites  she  was  the 
goddess  of  fertility  and  the  sexual  relations  ;  hence  rites  of  a 
most  licentious  character  were  associated  with  her  worship.  The 
name  of  the  goddess  was  most  probably  pronounced  Ashtart 
in  Palestine  (hence  the  Greek  form),  the  traditional  form  Ashtoreth 
being  an  intentional  deformation,  as  in  the  caseof  Molech  and  the 
personal  names  Ishbosheth  and  Mephibosheth  (see  on  2  Sam.  ii.  8). 
The  plural  form  here  used  refers  to  the  various  local  Astartes 
(cf.  the  localization  of  the  Virgin  in  Roman  Catholic  countries). 

4.  the  Baalim :  each  locality,  in  the  same  way,  had  its  ba^al 
(Jit.  'owner,'  'proprietor'),  the  guardian  ^^«ms  loci,  and  bearing 
its  name,  Baal  Hermon,  Baal  Peor,  &c.  The  more  important 
local  Baals  had  proper  names  ;  that  of  Tyre,  for  example,  was 
known  as  Melkarth,  the  Baal  of  i  Kings  xvi.  ff.  *The  Baalim  and 
the  Ashtaroth,'  therefore,  may  be  paraphrased  'the  gods  and 
goddesses  of  Canaan.' 

vii.  5-9.  The  national  religious  convention  at  Mizpah.  Amendment 
has  been  promised  for  the  future,  but  the  guilt  of  past  unfaithfulness 
has  yet  to  be  taken  away. 

5.  rSizpah:  sometimes  also  'Mizpeh' (watch-tower),  the  modern 
Nebi  Samwil,  on  a  lofty  height  five  miles  north-west  of  Jerusalem. 
It  was  the  rallying  place  of  the  tribes  in  the  story  of  Judges  xx. 
I  ff.,  and  at  a  later  period  the  residence  of  Gedaliah,  the  governor 
appointed  by  Nebuchadnezzar  (3  Kings  xxv.  23).  Still  later  it 
was  selected  by  Judas  Maccabaeus  to  be  the  scene  of  another 
great  day  of  national  humiliation,  *  for  in  Mizpah  was  there  a  place 
of  prayer  aforetime  in  Israel'  (i  Mace.  iii.  44). 

Z  will  pray  for  you :  Samuel  was  both  the  child  of  prayer 
and  a  man  of  prayer  (viii.  6,  xii.  19,  23^,  In  Jer.  xv.  i  Moses 
and  Samuel  are  cited  as  men  of  prevailing  prayer. 


70  I   SAMUEL  7.  7-10.     D 

together  to  Mizpah,  and  drew  water,  and  poured  it  out 
before  the  Lord,  and  fasted  on  that  day,  and  said  there, 
We  have  sinned  against  the  Lord.     And  Samuel  judged 

7  the  children  of  Israel  in  Mizpah.  And  when  the  Philis- 
tines heard  that  the  children  of  Israel  were  gathered  to- 
gether to  Mizpah,  the  lords  of  the  Philistines  went  up 
against  Israel.     And  when  the  children  of  Israel  heard 

8  it,  they  were  afraid  of  the  Philistines.  And  the  children 
of  Israel  said  to  Samuel,  Cease  not  to  cry  unto  the  Lord 
our  God  for  us,  that  he  will  save  us  out  of  the  hand  of 

9  the  Philistines.  And  Samuel  took  a  sucking  lamb,  and 
offered  it  for  a  whole  burnt  offering  unto  the  Lord  :  and 
Samuel  cried  unto  the  Lord  for  Israel ;  and  the  Lord 

10  answered  him.      And   as   Samuel  was    offering   up  the 
burnt  offering,  the  Philistines  drew  near  to  battle  against 


6.  drew  water,  &c.  :  wc  have  here  a  ritual  survival  from  the 
nomad  period  of  Hebrew  history.  After  the  change  to  the 
peasant  life  of  Canaan,  water,  the  most  precious  of  desert  offerings, 
was  supplanted  by  the  fruit  of  the  vine.  On  the  present  occasion 
the  pouring  out  of  the  water  '  before  the  Lord  '  is  probably  in- 
tended also  to  symbolize  the  outpouring  of  the  heart  in  penitent 
confession. 

vii.  7-12.      The  attack  and  miraculous  defeat  of  the  Philistines. 

7f.  The  Philistines  are  naturally  suspicious  of  this  national 
gathering,  and  prepare  to  nip  in  the  bud  any  attempt  to  throw  off 
their  yoke.  An  attack  is  made  while  Samuel  is  in  the  act  of 
sacrificing.  The  closing  words  of  verse  8  occur  again  in  the 
much  older  narrative  (ix.  16),  in  a  setting  which  illustrates  the 
different  theological  standpoints  of  the  two  writers.  Here  God 
works  by  direct  intervention,  there  through  a  chosen  human 
instrument. 

9.  The  offering  of  the  sucking  lamb  (Lev.  xxii.  27)  is  to  be 
regarded  as  part  of  the  ceremony  of  expiation  following  upon 
confession,  rather  than  as  the  sacrifice  usual  at  the  beginning  of 
a  campaign  (see  on  xiii.  9  ff.). 

10  f.  The  discomfiture  of  the  Philistines  is  represented  as 
having  been  accomplished  by  Yahweh  alone,  without  even  such 
co-operation  as  is  implied  in  the  similar  incidents,  Joshua  x.  10  f., 


I    SAMUEL  7.  11-15.     D  71 

Israel  :  but  the  Lord  thundered  with  a  great  thunder  on 
that  day  upon  the   Phihstines,  and  discomfited  them ; 
and  they  were  smitten  down  before  Israel.      And  the  n 
men   of  Israel  went  out   of  Mizpah,  and  pursued  the 
Philistines,  and  smote  them,  until  they  came  under  Beth- 
car.     Then  Samuel  took  a   stone,  and   set   it   between  12 
Mizpah  and  Shen,  and  called  the  name  of  it  Eben-ezer, 
saying,    Hitherto   hath   the   Lord   helped   us.     So   the  13 
Philistines  were  subdued,  and  they  came  no  more  within 
the  border  of  Israel :   and  the  hand  of  the  Lord  was  14 
against  the  Philistines  all  the  days  of  Samuel.     And  the 
cities  which  the  Philistines  had  taken  from  Israel  were     " 
restored  to  Israel,  from  Ekron  even  unto  Gath ;  and  the 
border  thereof  did  Israel  deliver  out  of  the  hand  of  the 
Philistines.     And  there  was  peace  between  Israel  and 
the  Amorites.     And  Samuel  judged  Israel  all  the  days  15 

Judges  V.  20.  'The  men  of  Israel,'  in  verse  11,  merely  complete 
the  rout  which  Yahweh  had  begun.  The  site  of  Beth-car  is  un- 
known. 

12.  Shen:  ///.  *  tooth'  or  crag,  but  the  LXX  apparently  read 
Jeshanah  (2  Chron.  xiii.  19),  which  is  here  generally  preferred. 

Eben-ezer;  see  R.V.  marg.,  also  note  on  iv.  i^. 

Eitherto  :  of  time,  '  until  now,'  not  of  space,  '  thus  far.' 

vii.  13  f.  The  extfaorditiary  result  of  the  Philistine  defeat.  The 
statement  that  the  Philistines  'came  no  more  within  the  borders  of 
Israel '  cannot  be  reconciled  with  the  facts  of  historj'.  There 
cannot  be  the  least  doubt  that  our  oldest  source  is  correct  in 
representing  the  continued  oppression  of  the  Philistines  as  the 
historical  motive  of  the  introduction  of  the  monarch}''  (see  ix.  15- 
17).  The  true  state  of  the  relations  between  the  Hebrews  and 
their  powerful  enemies  is  accurately  depicted  in  the  same  early 
source  as  a  state  of  continual  warfare  '  all  the  days  of  Saul ' 
(xiv.  52).  The  two  verses  before  us  are  full  of  the  characteristic 
phraseology  of  the  Deuteronomic  edition  of  Judges. 

14.  tlie  Amorites :  a  general  name  for  the  native  races  of 
Canaan,  specially  in  the  Pentateuch  documents  E  and  D  ;  the  cor- 
responding term  in  J  is  Canaanites. 

15ff.  The  theocratic  ideal  has  been  realized.  Under  Yahweh, 
his  true  king,  Israel  is  at  peace  from  all  his  enemies  within  and 


72  I   SAMUEL  7.  16—8.  r.     D 

16  of  his  life.  And  he  went  from  year  to  year  in  circuit  to 
Beth-el,  and  Gilgal,  and  Mizpah  ;  and  he  judged  Israel 

17  in  all  those  places.  And  his  return  was  to  Ramah,  for 
there  was  his  house  ;  and  there  he  judged  Israel :  and  he 
built  there  an  altar  unto  the  Lord. 

8      And  it  came  to  pass,  when  Samuel  was  old,  that  he 

without.  Samuel  is  Yahweh's  earthly  representative,  dispensing 
justice  to  a  united  Israel  as  did  Moses  in  the  birth-time  of  the  nation 
(Exod.  xviii.  13  ff.). 

16.  Beth-el,  the  modern  Beitin,  ten  miles  north  of  Jerusalem, 
was  one  of  the  oldest  sanctuaries  in  the  country.  This  applies 
also  to  Gilgfal,  if  the  famous  sanctuary  near  Jericho  is  the  locality 
intended,  but  there  were  many  Gilgals — Gilgal  signifies  a  stone 
circle— in  Palestine  (see  the  Bible  dictionaries).  For  the  probable 
site  of  Raiuah,  see  on  i.  i. 

B.  viii-xii.     The  Establishment  of  the  Monarchy. 

The  contents  of  these  chapters  in  their  present  form,  the  result 
of  compilation  from  at  least  two  originally  independent  documents, 
may  be  divided  into  four  sections  :  (i)  viii.  1-22,  the  demand  for 
a  king  and  *  the  manner '  of  the  same  ;  (2)  ix.  i — x.  27,  Saul  the  son 
of  Kish  anointed  by  Samuel  and  chosen  at  Mizpah ;  (3)  xi.  1-15, 
Saul  delivers  Jabesh-gilead  from  the  Ammonites,  the  kingdom 
renewed  at  Gilgal ;  (4)  xii.  1-25,  Samuel's  farewell  address. 

These  five  chapters,  recording  the  election  of  Saul  to  be  the  first 
king  of  Israel,  have  already  (see  Introduction,  sect,  iv)  been  the 
subject  of  detailed  investigation,  as  throwing  a  flood  of  light  upon 
the  literary  methods  of  the  Hebrew  historians  in  general  and  upon 
the  compilation  of  the  Books  of  Samuel  in  particular.  It  will 
suffice  to  note  here,  by  way  of  recapitulation,  that,  as  now 
arranged,  the  whole  section  (chs.  viii-xii)  gives  the  impression  that 
the  introduction  of  the  monarchy  was  an  act  of  disloyalty  to 
Yahweh,  Israel's  true  and  only  King,  the  theocratic  form  of 
government  being  that  under  which  Israel  was  intended  by  God 
to  work  out  his  destiny  in  the  world.  On  closer  inspection, 
however,  it  was  found  that  the  narrative  is  not  homogeneous,  that 
alongside  of  certain  sections  which  are  hostile  to  the  monarchy  are 
found  others  in  which  it  is  represented  as  the  gift  of  God  and  the 
destined  instrument  of  the  deliverance  of  His  people  from  the 
oppression  of  the  Philistines.  The  latter  view  is  reflected  in 
ix.  I — X.  16,  xi.  i-ii,  15,  derived  from  an  early  source,  M  (a  history 
of  the  introduction  of  the  monarchy),  the  former  in  viii.  1-22, 
x.  17-27,  which  betray  the  peculiar  standpoint  of  ch.  vii,  and  may 
be  assumed  to  belong  to  the  same   Deuteronomistic  source,   D. 


I   SAMUEL   8.  2-7.     D  73 

made  his  sons  judges  over  Israel.     Now  the  name  of  2 
his  firstborn  was  Joel ;    and  the  name   of  his  second, 
Abijah  :  they  were  judges  in  Beer-sheba.     And  his  sons  3 
walked  not  in  his  ways,  but  turned  aside  after  lucre,  and 
took  bribes,  and  perverted  judgement. 

Then  all  the  elders  of  Israel  gathered  themselves  to-  4 
gether,  and  came  to  Samuel  unto  Ramah  :  and  they  said 
unto  him,  Behold,  thou  art  old,  and  thy  sons  walk  not  5 
in  thy  ways :  now  make  us  a  king  to  judge  us  like  all 
the  nations.     But  the   thing   displeased   Samuel,  when  6 
they  said,  Give  us  a  king  to  judge  us.      And  Samuel 
prayed  unto  the  Lord.     And  the  Lord  said  unto  Sam-  7 
uel,  Hearken  unto  the  voice  of  the  people  in  all  that 
they  say  unto  thee  :  for  they  have  not  rejected  thee,  but 
they  have  rejected  me,  that  I  should  not  be  king  over 

For  further  exposition  of  the  numerous  points  of  divergence 
between  the  two  original  narratives,  see  the  Introduction,  and 
the  notes  below. 

(a)  viii.  1-22.  The  demand  for  a  king  and  the  '  manner^  of  the 
same, 

1,  Israel  has  continued  under  theocratic  government  until  the 
old  age  of  Samuel.  As  the  representative  of  Yahweh,  Samuel 
delegates  part  of  his  judicial  functions  to  his  sons,  who  are  installed 
as  judges  in  the  remote  south. 

2.  Joel  .  .  .  Abijah  :  both  names  contain,  as  the  first  and 
second  component  respectively,  the  Divine  name  Yahweh. 
Delitzsch  in  his  Babel  and  Bible  (English  edition  by  Johns, 
pp.  71  f.,  133  ff.)  claims  that  Joel  is  found  in  its  full  form  Ya-ve-ilu 
in  Canaanite  names  as  early  as  circa  2200  b.  c,  a  fact  of  far-reaching 
significance  were  it  capable  of  proof.  Delitzsch's  reading,  however, 
has  been  vigorously  contested  (see  inter  alia,  ZA  TW.,  xxiii  (1903), 
pp.  355  ff-). 

viii.  4-9  The  elders  of  Israel  request  Samuel  to  give  them  a  king. 
The  motives  alleged  for  this  request  are  (i)  the  unfitness  of 
Samuel's  sons  to  succeed  him  as  the  executive  of  the  theocracy, 
and  (2)  the  popular — and,  for  the  writer,  sinful  (cf,  xii.  17-19) — 
desire  to  copy  a  heathen  institution.  A  third  motive  is  introduced 
at  the  end  of  verse  20. 

*I.  they  have  rejected  me,  that  X  should  not  he  kiuGT  over 


74  I    SAMUEL  8.  8-11.     DRD 

8  them.  According  to  all  the  works  which  they  have 
done  since  the  day  that  I  brought  them  up  out  of 
Egypt  even  unto  this  day,  in  that  they  have  forsaken  me, 

9  and  served  other  gods,  so  do  they  also  unto  thee.  Now 
therefore  hearken  unto  their  voice  :  howbeit  thou  shalt 
protest  solemnly  unto  them,  and  shalt  shew  them  the 
manner  of  the  king  that  shall  reign  over  them. 

10  [R]  And  Samuel  told  all  the  words  of  the  Lord  unto 

11  the  people  that  asked  of  him  a  king.     [D]  And  he  said, 

them :  a  definite  expression  of  the  writer's  contention  that  the 
theocracy  was  the  form  of  government  under  which  God  had 
willed  that  Israel  should  continue  to  the  end,  a  position  still  more 
definitely  formulated  in  xii.  la**  (cf.  Judges  viii.  23)  :  ^  Yahweh, 
your  God,  was  your  king.' 

8.  The  people's  conduct  in  this  matter  is  of  a  piece  with  their 
ingratitude  to  Yahweh  in  the  past.  The  comparison  expressed  in 
the  last  clause  is  more  clearly  brought  out  by  reading  with  LXX 
*  to  me '  after  '  have  done '  in  the  first  clause.  This  view  of  the 
period  of  the  judges  as  a  continuous  declension  from  the  worship 
of  Yahweh  finds  its  classical  expression  in  the  kindred  introduction 
to  the  Deuteronomic  edition  of  Judges  (ii.  11 — iii.  16  ;  cf.  with  this 
verse  especially  ii.  12  f,  and  iii.  11  ff.). 

9.  the  manner  (^mishpdf)  of  the  kingf :  i.  e.  his  constitutional 
rights  as  enumerated  verses  11-17,  not  those  usurped  by  him. 
Cf.  2  Kings  xvii.  26,  '  the  manner  of  the  God  of  the  land,'  the 
proper  rites  and  ceremonies  pertaining  to  His  worship. 

10.  unto  the  people  that  asked,  &c. :  by  themselves  these 
words  might  be  interpreted  as  in  verses  7,  9  above,  but  the  contents 
of  the  following  address,  and  especially  verses  19  ff".,  show  that 
Samuel  is  here  addressing  a  popular  assembly  as  in  chs.  vii  and  xii. 
Lohr  in  his  commentary  (see  above,  p.  31),  improving  on  a  sug- 
gestion by  Cornill,  has  made  it  very  probable  that  the  editor  of 
this  section,  in  combining  the  two  narratives,  M  and  D,  has  been 
obliged  to  alter  the  original  sequence  of  the  latter  in  order  to  avoid 
relating  the  election  of  Saul  at  Mizpah  before  he  had  given  us  the 
contents  of  ch.  ix.  The  original  arrangement  in  D,  according  to 
L6hr,  whom  Nowack  follows,  was  as  follows  :  (i)  viii.  1-9,  the 
elders  approach  Samuel  at  Ramah ;  (2)  x.  17-19  (to  '  over  us'), 
viii.  11-22  (to  '  Israel '),  the  people  summoned  to  Mizpah,  exposition 
of  the  'manner  of  the  king'  ;  (3)  x.  19^-24,  election  of  Saul  by 
the  sacred  lot,  followed  immediately  by  (4)  xii.  1-25,  the  farewell 
address  delivered  at  Mizpah,  not  at  Gilgal,  the  whole  concluded 


I   SAMUEL  8.   12,  1^.     D  75 

This  will  be  the  manner  of  the  king  that  shall  reign  over 
you  :  he  will  take  your  sons,  and  appoint  them  unto  him, 
for  his  chariots,  and  to  be  his  horsemen  ;  and  they  shall 
run  before  his  chariots  :  and  he  will  appoint  them  unto  12 
him  for  captains  of  thousands,  and  captains  of  fifties ; 
and  he  will  set  some  to  plow  his  ground,  and  to  reap  his 
harvest,  and  to  make  his  instruments  of  war,  and  the 
instruments  of  his  chariots.  And  he  will  take  your  13 
daughters  to  V^e  confectionaries,  and  to  be  cooks,  and  to 

by  (5)  X.  25-27,  the  dismissal  of  the  assembly  and  Saul's  return  to 
Gibeah.  The  verse  viii.  lo,  the  last  words  of  viii.  22,  and  xi.  12- 
14,  which  refers  back  to  x.  27,  are  all  due  to  the  harmonizing 
necessities  of  the  editor,  and  are  here  indicated  by  R.  By  this 
arrangement  D's  narrative  unquestionably  gains  in  clearness  and 
consistency. 

viii.  11-22.      Tlie  King's  Right. 

As  implied  in  verse  9,  Samuel  has  convened  a  national  assembly 
at  Mi/Tpah  ^x.  17,  cf,  vii.  5),  and  after  accusing  the  people  of  their 
ingratitude  and  disloyalty  to  their  true  King  (x.  18  f,,  cf.  viii.  8), 
proceeds,  as  instructed  (viii.  9),  to  show  them  *  the  manner  of  the 
king.'  First  among  the  constitutional  rights  of  the  latter  is  placed 
his  demand  for  military  service — here  regarded  ver}' differently  from 
xxii.  7 — and  forced  labour  {corvee)  on  crown  lands  and  in  the  royal 
arsenal  (verses  11  f.)  ;  then  follow  the  needs  of  the  royal  kitchen, 
and  the  appropriation  of  lands  to  reward  the  king's  favourites 
(13  f.)  ;  the  throne,  further,  has  to  be  supported  by  taxation,  and 
a  numerous  retinue  of  slaves  is  required  to  uphold  the  roA'al 
dignity  (15  f)-  ^     . 

11.  they  shall  run  before  his  chariots:  as  a  lody guard  of 
'  runners '  for  the  sovereign  ;  hence  adopted  by  ambitious  aspirants 
like  Absalom  (2  Sam.  xv.  i)  and  Adonijah  (i  Kings  i.  5). 

12.  captains  of  thousands  ...  of  fifties :  cf.  *  captains  of 
hundreds  '  (xxii.  7,  2  Sam.  xviii.  i;,  all  graded  units  in  the  organiza- 
tionof  the  national  militia  under  themonarchy.  As  this  organization 
was  on  a  territorial  basis,  a  district  was  known  as  the  *  thousand'  (cf. 
the  'hundreds'  of  English  constitutional  history'),  which  also  became 
synonymous  with  '  clan,'  the  unit  of  population  which  occupied  the 
district  (see  x.  19,  21).  Each  tribe  consisted  of  a  varying  number 
of  clans  (R.  V.  'families,'  ix.  21,  &c.),  each  clan  of  a  number  of 
septs,  technically  called  'fathers'  houses'  (ii.  27  f.,  xvii.  25,  and 
often). 

13.  confectionaries :  compounders  of  aromatic  ointments  and 


76  I   SAMUEL  8.  14-22.     D 

14  be  bakers.     And  he  will  take  your  fields,  and  your  vine- 
yards, and  your  oliveyards,  even  the  best  of  them,  and 

15  give  them  to  his  servants.     And  he  will  take  the  tenth  of 
your  seed,  and  of  your  vineyards,  and  give  to  his  officers, 

16  and  to  his  servants.     And  he  will  take  your  menservants, 
and  your  maidservants,  and  your  goodliest  young  men, 

17  and  your  asses,  and  put  them  to  his  work.     He  will  take 
the  tenth  of  your  flocks  :    and  ye  shall  be  his  servants. 

18  And  ye  shall  cry  out  in  that  day  because  of  your  king 
which  ye  shall  have  chosen  you  ;  and  the  Lord  will  not 

19  answer  you  in  that   day.     But   the   people  refused   to 
hearken  unto  the  voice  of  Samuel ;  and  they  said,  Nay ; 

20  but  we  will  have  a  king  over  us ;  that  we  also  may  be 
like  all  the  nations ;  and  that  our  king  may  judge  us, 

21  and  go  out  before  us,  and  fight  our  battles.     And  Sam- 
uel heard  all  the  words  of  the  people,  and  he  rehearsed 

22  them  in  the  ears  of  the  Lord.     And  the  Lord  said  to 


spices  (Exod.  xxx.  25  ;  cf.  i  Chron.  ix.  30  R.V.),  hence  R.V.  marg. 
'  perfumers.' 

15.  the  tenth:  the  royal  tithe  levied  on  the  annual  produce  of 
corn-land  and  vineyard  ;  a  third  source  of  tithe  is  added  in  verse  17. 

16.  your  g'oodliest  young  men :  read,  with  LXX,  'your  good- 
liest cattle ' ;  the  royal  claim  on  the  freemen  has  been  already 
stated  in  verses  11  f. 

The  tone  of  this  remarkable  passage  is  decidedly  hostile  to  the 
monarchy  as  an  institution,  far  exceeding  in  its  condemnation  the 
parallel  passage,  Deut.  xvii.  14-20,  in  which  the  king  is  warned 
merely  against  multiplying  horses,  wives,  and  wealth.  With  the 
rest  of  the  document  (D)  of  which  it  forms  a  part,  it  implies  a  long 
and  unhappy  experience  of  monarchical  government,  suggesting 
a  date  in  the  Exile,  and  the  bitter  reflections  of  a  school  which 
regarded  the  defections  and  excesses  of  the  monarchy  as  largely 
responsible  for  the  destruction  of  the  state. 

viii.  19-22.     The  people  persist  in  their  demand. 

20.  Note  the  twofold  function  of  an  Eastern  monarch — to  act 
as  the  supreme  judge  in  internal  affairs,  and  to  lead  his  people  in 
battle  against  external  foes. 


I   SAMUEL  0.  1,  2.     DRM  77 

Samuel,  Hearken  unto  their  voice^  and  make  them  a 
king.  And  Samuel  said  unto  the  men  of  Israel,  [R]  Go 
ye  every  man  unto  his  city. 

[M]  Now  there  was  a  man  of  Benjamin,  whose  name  9 
was  Kish,  the  son  of  Abiel,  the  son  of  Zeror,  the  son  of 
Becorath,  the  son  of  Aphiah,  the  son  of  a  Benjamite,  a 
mighty  man  of  valour.  And  he  had  a  son,  whose  name  2 
was  Saul,  a  young  man  and  a  goodly  :  and  there  was  not 
among  the  children  of  Israel  a  goodlier  person  than  he  : 
from  his  shoulders  and  upward  he  was  higher  than  any 

22.  G-o  ye  every  man,  &c.  :  in  the  present  arrangement  of  the 
text,  Samuel's  delay  in  executing  the  Divine  command  of  22*  is 
inexplicable  ;  by  the  rearrangement  explained  above,  however, 
the  original  continuation  of  32"  is  to  be  found  in  x.  19*' ff.  :  'And 
Samuel  said  unto  the  men  of  Israel,  Nov^^  therefore,  present 
yourselves,'  &c. 

{b)  ix.  I — X.  27.  Satil  Ihe  son  of  Kish  anointed  by  Samuel  and 
chosen  at  Mizpah. 

The  compiler  at  this  point  postpones  the  election  of  the  new  king, 
which  was  impending  in  viii.  22,  in  order  to  introduce  a  long  and 
valuable  extract  (ix.  i — x.  16)  from  the  older  historical  document 
at  his  disposal,  our  M,  in  which  the  introduction  of  the  monarchy 
is  presented  in  a  very  different  light  from  the  marked  antagonism 
of  D  (see  for  details  the  Introduction  to  this  commentary,  sect.  iv). 

ix.  1-14,     Said  sent  in  search  of  his  father  s  asses. 

1.  The  analogy  of  i.  i  makes  it  probable  that  the  text  originally 
ran  :  '  Now  there  was  a  man  of  Gibeah  of  Benjamin  (cf.  xiii.  2,  15, 
xiv.  16)  whose  name  was  Kish  '  (so  Wellhausen  and  others).  This 
Gibeah  was  also  known  afterwards  as  Gibeah  of  Saul  (xi.  4),  and 
since  Robinson's  day  has  been  generally  identified  with  the  modern 
Tell-el-Fiil,  about  four  miles  due  north  of  Jerusalem. 

a  mighty  man  of  valour :  rather,  '  a  man  of  wealth '  (see 
R.  V.  marg.  and  2  Kings  xv.  20)  or  substance,  the  owner  of  a 
large  estate. 

2.  Saul :  in  Hebrew  Sha'til,  one  'asked  '  (from  God),  cf.  i.  20. 
ayoungrman:  the  original  denotes  a  man  'in  the  prime  of 

manhood  '  {BDB,  Heb.  Lex.).  Not  Saul's  age  but  his  physical  fit- 
ness for  kinghood  is  the  point  here.  Saul  was  'every  inch  a  king.' 
'J'helast  clause  of  the  verse,  however,  looks  like  an  explanatory 
gloss    borrowed  from   x.  23..    where   it    is    more    in  place.     The 


78  I   SAMUEL  9.  3-7.     M 

3  of  the  people.  And  the  asses  of  Kish  Saul's  father  were 
lost.     And  Kish  said  to  Saul  his  son,  Take  now  one  of 

4  the  servants  with  thee,  and  arise,  go  seek  the  asses.  And 
he  passed  through  the  hill  country  ofEphraim,  and  passed 
through  the  land  of  Shalishah,  but  they  found  them  not : 
then  they  passed  through  the  land  of  Shaalim,  and  there 
they  were  not :   and  he  passed  through  the  land  of  the 

5  Benjamites,  but  they  found  them  not.  When  they  were 
come  to  the  land  of  Zuph,  Saul  said  to  his  servant  that 
was  with  him,  Come  and  let  us  return ;   lest  my  father 

6  leave  caring  for  the  asses,  and  take  thought  for  us.  And 
he  said  unto  him,  Behold  now,  there  is  in  this  city  a  man 
of  God,  and  he  is  a  man  that  is  held  in  honour ;  all  that 
he  saith  cometh  surely  to  pass  :  now  let  us  go  thither ; 
peradventure   he  can    tell   us    concerning  our  journey 

7  whereon  we  go.  Then  said  Saul  to  his  servant,  But,  be- 
hold, if  we  go,  what  shall  we  bring  the  man?  for  the 
bread  is  spent  in  our  vessels,  and  there  is  not  a  present 


grounds  on  which  some  scholars  have  detected  a  discrepancy — 
implying  a  difference  of  sources — as  to  the  age  of  Saul  at  his 
election  between  this  chapter  and  xiii.  aff.,  where  he  is  the  father 
of  a  grown-up  son,  are  illusory. 

4.  The  verbs  should  be  read  in  the  plural  throughout.  The 
route  followed  is  uncertain.  If  Shaalim,  as  is  probable,  is  a 
corruption  of  Shaalbim  (Judges  i.  35,  i  Kings  iv.  9),  which  was 
near  Ajalon,  the  travellers  appear  to  have  crossed  the  hills  to  the 
west  of  Gibeah,  descended  the  valley  of  Ajalon,  and  then  turned 
northwards  through  the  western  end  of  Benjamin  to  the  land  of 
Zuph,  in  which  lay  Ramah  (see  i.  i),  the  home  of  Samuel. 

6.  a  man  of  God  :  the  first  of  three  names  in  this  chapter  for 
a  prophet,  emphasizing  the  latter's  close  relation  to  God.  The 
mark  of  a  true  prophet  (cf.  Deut.  xviii.  21  f.)  was  the  fulfilment 
of  his  predictions,  as  illustrated  in  x.  2  ff.  The  contrast  is  here 
very  striking  between  Samuel,  the  little-known  seer  of  an 
Ephraimite  village,  and  Samuel  the  theocratic  ruler  of  all  Israel 
in  chs.  vii  and  viii  (D). 

7  f.  afford  an  interesting  glimpse  of  early  Hebrew  custom.  It 
was  usual  to  fee  the  professional  seer  either  in  monej'  or  in  kind. 


I   SAMUEL  9.  8-13.     M  79 

to  bring  to  the  man  of  God  :  what  have  we  ?     And  the  8 
servant  answered  Saul  again,  and  said,  Behold,  I  have  in 
my  hand  the  fourth  part  of  a  shekel  of  silver  :  that  will  I 
give  to  the  man  of  God,  to  tell  us  our  way.     (Beforetime  9 
in  Israel,  when  a  man  went  to  inquire  of  God,  thus  he 
said,  Come  and  let  us  go  to  the  seer  :  for  he  that  is  now 
called  a  Prophet  was  beforetime  called  a  Seer.)     Then  10 
said  Saul  to  his  servant,  Well  said ;  come,  let  us  go.     So 
they  went  unto  the  city  where  the  man  of  God  was.     As  1 1 
they  went  up  the  ascent  to  the  city,  they  found  young 
maidens  going  out  to  draw  water,  and  said  unto  them. 
Is  the  seer  here  ?   And  they  answered  them,  and  said,  12 
He  is  ;   behold,  he  is  before  thee  :   make  haste  now,  for 
he  is  come  to-day  into  the  city  ;  for  the  people  have  a 
sacrifice  to-day  in  the  high  place  :  as  soon  as  ye  be  come  13 


8.  the  fourth  part  of  a  shekel :  not  a  stamped  coin — true 
coins  were  a  much  later  invention — but  a  piece  of  silver  of  any 
shape  weighing  a  quarter  of  a  shekel,  cir.  56  Troy  grains,  and 
worth  intrinsically  about  8^.  of  our  money,  hut  of  course  of  much 
greater  purchasing  power.  See  the  writer's  article  '  Money '  in 
Hastings'  DB.^  iii,  420. 

that  will  I  give :  better,  with  LXX,  '  that  wilt  thou  give.' 

9,  A  gloss  b}'  a  later  hand,  originall3''  written  in  the  margin 
opposite  verse  ii,  where  the  word  'seer'  first  occurs.  'Seer'  is 
the  rendering  of  two  distinct  Hebrew  participles,  ro'eh  and  hozeh  ; 
the  former  is  applied  only  to  Samuel  and  one  other  (2  Chron.  xvi. 
7,  10),  which  is  due  to  the  fact  that  but  a  small  part  of  the  O.T. 
can  be  older  than  the  present  narrative,  the  bulk  of  our  extant 
literature  dating  from  a  period  when  iveli  had  been  superseded  by 
ndbi^  'prophet'  (see  on  x.  5).  The  later  date  of  ch.  iii,  compared 
with  ch.  ix,  is  shown  by  the  use  there  of  the  latter  term  (iii.  20). 

11.  groing*  out  to  draw  water:  indicating  'the  time  of 
evening,'  see  Gen,  xxiv.   11. 

12.  "before  thee,  &c.  :  read,  with  a  slight  change  of  text :  '  lo, 
he  is  before  you  (plur.)  ;  now,  at  this  moment  (as  verse  13),  he  is 
come  into  the  city  '  (Wellh.,  Driver,  &c.).     See  below  on  verse  14. 

in  the  high  place  :  Hebrew  bdma,  the  standing  term  for  the 
local  sanctuaries  at  which  the  sacrificial  worship  of  Yahweh  was 
lawfully  celebrated  until  the  reformation  of  Josiah.     Ramah  lay 


8o  I   SAMUEL  9.  14-16.     M 

into  the  city,  ye  shall  straightway  find  him,  before  he  go 
up  to  the  high  place  to  eat :  for  the  people  will  not  eat 
until  he  come,  because  he  doth  bless  the  sacrifice ;  attd 
afterwards  they  eat  that  be  bidden.    Now  therefore  get  you 

14  up  ;  for  at  this  time  ye  shall  find  him.  And  they  went  up  to 
the  city,  and  as  they  came  within  the  city,  behold,  Samuel 
came  out  against  them,  for  to  go  up  to  the  high  place. 

15  Now  the  Lord  had  revealed  unto  Samuel  a  day  before 

16  Saul  came,  saying,  To-morrow  about  this  time  I  will  send 
thee  a  man  out  of  the  land  of  Benjamin,  and  thou  shalt 
anoint  him  to  be  prince  over  my  people  Israel,  and  he 
shall  save  my  people  out  of  the  hand  of  the  Philistines : 
for  I  have  looked  upon  my  people,  because  their  cry  is 


on  the  slope  of  the  hill,  the  village  well  was  at  its  foot,  and  the 
sanctuary,  as  elsewhere,  on  the  hill-top  (note  the  verbs  in  verses 
11-14).  The  precision  of  the  topographical  vocabulary  of  the 
Hebrew  historians  is  a  noteworthy  feature  of  their  style. 

14.  as  they  came  witMn  the  city :  read,  with  most  modern 
editors,  as  in  verse  18,  'within  the  gate,'  or  better  'the  gatehouse' 
(see  on  a  Sam.  xviii.  24).  Samuel  seems  to  have  come  down  from 
presiding  at  the  sacrifice,  as  is  required  by  verse  23,  with  the 
express  object  of  finding  his  unknown  but  expected  visitor  (see 
verse  16).  After  inquiring  at  the  gate  if  a  stranger  had  entered, 
he  is  now  on  the  point  of  returning  for  the  deferred  sacrificial 
meal  at  the  high  place. 

ix.  15-26.     The  meeting  of  Samuel  and  Saul. 

15.  the  LORD  had  revealed  unto  Samuel :  //'/. '  had  uncovered 
Samuel's  ear'  (as  R.  V.  marg.) ;  the  Divine  message  had  come  as 
a  '  word  '  (see  verse  17,  and  cf.  the  familiar  phrase,  *  the  word  of  the 
Lord  came  unto  .  .  .'),  not  as  a  'vision'  (Isa.  i.  i,  and  often). 
The  uncovering  of  the  ear  is  also  used  in  this  document  of 
ordinary  communications  (xx.  2,  12  f.,  xxii.  8,  17). 

16.  I  have  looked  upon  :  add,  '  the  affliction  (so  LXX)  of  my 
people,'  as  Exod.  iii.  7.  In  nothing  is  the  contrast  between  the 
historical  presuppositions  of  the  earlier  and  later  narratives  more 
conspicuous  than  in  the  picture  they  respectively  present  of  the 
condition  of  the  Hebrew  tribes  at  this  particular  crisis  of  their 
history.  Here  the  Philistine  oppression  is  at  its  height,  and  the 
*  cry  '  of  God's  people  '  is  come  unto  '  Him,  as  aforetime  in  Egypt 
(Exod.    iii.    7).     According   to   the   representation    of  the   later 


I    SAMUEL    9.  17-2  2.     M  8i 

come  unto  me.     And  when  Samuel  saw  Saul,  the  Lord  17 
said  unto  him,  Behold  the  man  of  whom  I  spake  to  thee  ! 
this  same  shall  have  authority  over  my  people.     Then  18 
Saul  drew  near  to  Samuel  in  the  gate,  and  said.  Tell  me, 
I  pray  thee,  where  the  seer's  house  is.     And  Samuel  19 
answered  Saul,  and  said,  I  am  the  seer ;  go  up  before  me 
unto  the  high  place,  for  ye  shall  eat  with  me  to-day  :  and 
in  the  morning  I  will  let  thee  go,  and  will  tell  thee  all 
that  is  in  thine  heart.     And  as  for  thine  asses  that  were  20 
lost  three  days  ago,  set  not  thy  mind  on  them ;  for  they 
are  found.     And  for  whom  is  all  that  is  desirable  in 
Israel  ?  Is  it  not  for  thee,  and  for  all  thy  father's  house  ? 
And  Saul  answered  and  said,  Am  not  I  a  Benjamite,  of  21 
the  smallest  of  the  tribes  of  Israel?  and  my  family  the 
least  of  all  the  families  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin  ?  where- 
fore then  speakest  thou  to  me  after  this  manner?     And  22 
Samuel  took  Saul  and  his  servant,  and  brought  them  into 


document,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Philistines  were  completely 
crushed  at  the  beginning  of  Samuel's  judgeship,  and  '  came  no 
more  within  the  border  of  Israel '  (vii.  13).  The  initiative,  further, 
is  here  taken  by  Yahweh  Himself  without  the  slightest  hint  of  the 
incidents  recorded  in  the  previous  chapter.  The  monarchy  is 
God's  free  gift  to  His  people  ;  the  future  'prince,'  in  the  might  of 
God's  own  spirit,  is  destined  to  be  the  instrument  of  their 
deliverance  from  the  Philistine  yoke.  The  single  fact— and  it  is  an 
important  one — in  which  both  narratives  agree  is  the  leading  part 
taken  by  Samuel  in  the  appointment  of  Saul. 

17.  Behold  the  man  :  the  rendering  given  in  R.  V.  marg.  to 
the  rest  of  this  clause  is  preferable  to  that  of  the  text,  '  Behold  the 
man  of  whom  I  said  unto  thee,  This  same,'  &c. 

19.  aU  that  is  in  thine  heart:  as  a  'man  of  God,'  Samuel 
'knoweth  the  secrets  of  the  heart'  (Ps.  xliv.  21).  In  the  light  of 
Saul's  character  as  revealed  in  the  sequel,  we  can  hardly  go 
wrong  in  understanding  these  words  as  an  indication  that  Saul 
had  brooded  in  secret  over  the  tyranny  of  the  Philistines,  and 
was  perhaps  already  forming  plans  for  ending  it. 

20.  all  that  is  desirable  in  Israel :  the  honour  and  material 
advantages  of  royalty.     Cf.  Hag.  ii.  7  (Driver). 


S2  I   SAMUEL  9.  23-27.     M 

the  guest-chamber,  and  made  them  sit  in  the  chiefest 
place  among  them  that  were  bidden,  which  were  about 

23  thirty  persons.  And  Samuel  said  unto  the  cook.  Bring 
the  portion  which  I  gave  thee,  of  which  I  said  unto  thee, 

24  Set  it  by  thee.  And  the  cook  took  up  the  thigh,  and 
that  which  was  upon  it,  and  set  it  before  Saul.  And 
Savmel  said,  Behold  that  which  hath  been  reserved !  set 
it  before  thee  and  eat ;  because  unto  the  appointed  time 
hath  it  been  kept  for  thee,  for  I  said,  I  have  invited  the 

25  people.  So  Saul  did  eat  with  Samuel  that  day.  And 
when  they  were  come  down  from  the  high  place  into  the 

26  city,  he  communed  with  Saul  upon  the  housetop.  And 
they  arose  early  :  and  it  came  to  pass  about  the  spring  of 
the  day,  that  Samuel  called  to  Saul  on  the  housetop, 
saying,  Up,  that  I  may  send  thee  away.  And  Saul  arose, 
and  they  went  out  both  of  them,  he  and  Samuel,  abroad. 

27  As  they  were  going  down  at  the  end  of  the  city,  Samuel 
said  to  Saul,  Bid  the  servant  pass  on  before  us,  (and  he 
passed  on,)  but  stand  thou  still  at  this  time,  that  I  may 


22.  the  cruest-chamber  :  rather,  '  the  dining-hall,'  in  which  the 
sacrificial  meal  was  eaten,  an  adjunct  doubtless  of  every  important 
sanctuary.  The  Greek  translators  seem  to  have  found  a  similar 
hall  at  Shiloh  in  their  text  of  i.  i8. 

24.  and  that  which  was  upon  it :  a  tautology  due  to  textual 
corruption.  Almost  all  recent  commentators,  by  a  slight  em- 
endation, read  'and  the  fat  tail,'  a  delicacy  much  esteemed  in 
Syria  at  the  present  day.  In  later  times,  however,  it  had  to  be 
burned  on  the  altar  (Exod.  xxix.  22;  Lev.  iii.  9,  both  as  R.V.). 
The  rest  of  this  verse  is  admittedly  corrupt.  H.  P.  Smith's 
conjectural  restoration  is  accepted  in  the  main  by  Budde  and 
Nowack :  '■  Behold  the  meal  is  served !  Eat !  for  to  the  appointed 
time  we  have  waited  for  thee  to  eat  with  the  guests '  (Intern.  Crit. 
Comm.,  in  loc). 

25  f.  Here  also  the  text  is  in  some  disorder.  The  opening  clause 
of  verse  26  comes  too  soon.  We  must  read  with  LXX  (see  R.V. 
marg.)  :  *  And  they  spread  a  couch  for  Saul  on  the  housetop,  and 
he  lay  down  to  sleep.     And  it  came  to  pass,'  &c. 


I   SAMUEL  10.  1,2.     M  83 

cause  thee  to  hear  the  word  of  God.     Then  Samuel  took  10 
the  vial  of  oil,  and  poured  it  upon  his  head,  and  kissed 
him,  and  said,  Is  it  not  that  the  Lord  hath  anointed 
thee  to  be  prince  over  his  inheritance?  When  thou  art  2 
departed  from  me  to-day,  then  thou  shalt  find  two  men  by 
Rachel's  sepulchre,  in  the  border  of  Benjamin  at  Zelzah ; 

ix.  27 — X.  I.  Saul  anointed  by  Saiiinel. 

1.  The  Greek  and  Latin  versions  have  a  much  fuller  text  in  the 
second  half  of  this  verse  :  '  Hath  not  Yahweh  anointed  thee  [to  be 
prince  over  his  people  Israel  ?  And  thou  shalt  have  authority  over 
the  people  of  Yahweh,  and  shalt  save  them  out  of  the  hand  of  their 
enemies  (cf.  ix.  i6),  and  this  shall  be  to  thee  the  sign  that  Yahweh 
hath  anointed  thee]  to  be  prince  over  his  inheritance.'  This 
repetition  of  the  words  of  a  Divine  message  is  entirely  after  the 
Hebrew  manner,  and  the  reference  to  the  '  sign '  is  necessary  to 
explain  verse  7.  The  copyist's  eye  has  simply  passed  from  the 
first  occurrence  of  '  Yahweh  hath  anointed  thee '  to  the  second, 
as  indicated  by  the  square  brackets. 

the  IiORD  hath  anointed  thee:  the  earliest  recorded  instance 
in  the  O.  T.  of  this  almost  universal  method  of  consecration  to  the 
kingly  office.  The  custom  was  doubtless  one  habitually  observed 
by  the  native  princes  of  Canaan,  as  may  be  inferred  from  the 
reference  to  it  in  the  very  early  passage  Judges  ix.  8,  15,  and 
from  the  actual  instance  of  the  prince  of  Nuhashshe,  anointed  by 
Thothmes  HI  {c.  1500},  as  mentioned  by  his  grandson  in  one  of 
the  Tell-el-Amarna  letters  i^see  Winckler's  edition,  No.  37).  The 
origin  of  the  ceremony  must  be  sought  in  Egypt  rather  than  in 
Babylonia,  where  it  appears  to  have  been  unknown  {KA  T.^,  p.  602). 
At  the  outset  it  clearly  signified  the  transference  to  the  person 
anointed  of  part  of  the  mysterious  holiness  or  virtue  of  the  deity 
in  whose  name  and  by  whose  representative  it  was  performed. 
By  the  Hebrews  the  anointing  was  believed  to  impart  a  special 
endowment  of  the  spirit  of  Yahweh  (x.  6,  10,  and  especially  xvi. 
13  ;  cf.  Isa.  Ixi.  i\  The  kingship  is  the  only  office  thus  consecrated 
in  our  oldest  sources,  hence  the  king  is  frequently  in  the  Books  of 
Samuel  termed  '  Yahweh's  anointed,'  whose  sacrosanct  and  in- 
violate character  is  well  illustrated  by  such  passages  as  xxiv.  6,  10 
and  parallels.  See  for  the  v»^hole  subject  Weinel's  elaborate  study 
in  ZATW.  xviii  (1898),  iff.,  especially  ao-27,  also  Kautzsch  in 
Hastings'  DB.,  extra  vol.,  659  f. 

X.  2-13  Sattfs  destiny  to  be  confirmed  by  three  signs. 

2.  Rachel's  sepulchre:  'but  a  little  way'  from  Beth-el  (Gen. 
XXXV.   i6>     The   present  reputed   site,  a  little  to   the    north  of 

G    2 


84  I   SAMUEL  10.  3-5.     M 

and  they  will  say  unto  thee,  The  asses  which  thou  wentest 
to  seek  are  found :  and,  lo,  thy  father  hath  left  the  care 
of  the  asses,  and  taketh  thought  for  you,  saying,  What 

3  shall  I  do  for  my  son  ?  Then  shalt  thou  go  on  forward 
from  thence,  and  thou  shalt  come  to  the  oak  of  Tabor, 
and  there  shall  meet  thee  there  three  men  going  up  to 
God  to  Beth-el,  one  carrying  three  kids,  and  another 
carrying  three   loaves   of  bread,   and  another   carrying 

4  a  bottle  of  wine  :  and  they  will  salute  thee,  and  give  thee 
two  loaves  of  bread ;  which  thou  shalt  receive  of  their 

5  hand.  After  that  thou  shalt  come  to  the  hill  of  God, 
where  is  the  garrison  of  the  Philistines  :  and  it  shall  come 
to  pass,  w^hen  thou  art  come  thither  to  the  city,  that  thou 
shalt  meet  a  band  of  prophets  coming  down  from  the 

Beth-lehem,  is  due  to  a  late  gloss  (Gen.  xxxv.  19,  xlviii.  7)  which 
wrongly  identifies  Ephrath  with  Beth-lehem. 
Zelzah  is  unknown,  and  appears  corrupt. 

3.  going*  up  to  God :  a  striking  expression  for  going  to  worship 
at  the  sanctuary,  viz.  of  Beth-el.  The  kids,  the  loaves,  and  the  wine 
were  destined  for  the  sacrificial  meal  (i.  24),  The  future  king  is 
to  receive  at  the  hands  of  the  travellers  his  first  tribute  of  ro3'alty 
(contrast  verse  27). 

5.  tlie  garrison  of  the  Philistines :  the  true  meaning  of  the 
word  rendered  '  garrison '  here  and  xiii.  sf.,  2  Sam.  viii,  6,  14  is 
uncertain.  Since  this  is  evidently  the  correct  rendering  of  a 
cognate  noun  in  xiii.  23,  xiv.  i,  &c.,  the  alternative  'officer'  (so 
I  Kings  iv.  19)  or  '  resident '  is  on  the  whole  to  be  preferred  (Smith, 
Budde,  Nowack).  Either  rendering,  however,  attests  the  fact  that 
Central  Palestine  was  then  in  the  hands  of  the  Philistines.  For 
the  hill  of  God  we  should  probably  substitute  the  marginal 
rendering  '  Gibeah  of  God  '  (see  on  xiii.  3). 

a  band  of  prophets :  this  passage  with  its  sequel,  verses 
10-13,  Js  important  for  the  evolution  of  the  prophetic  order  in  Israel. 
As  here  met  with  for  the  first  time  in  Hebrew  history,  the 
'  prophets '  closely  resemble  the  bands  of  excited  dervishes  of  the 
modern  Orient.  Under  the  influence  of  music  (cf.  2  Kings  iii.  15) 
they  worked  themselves  into  a  condition  of  religious  ecstasy,  which 
on  occasion  might  pass  into  a  wild,  convulsive  (xix.  24),  and  even 
dangerous  frenzy  (xviii.  io\  akin  to  madness  (2  Kings  ix.  11). 
While  first  of  all  zealots  for  Yahweh  and  His  worship,  these 


I    SAMUEL  10.  6-11.     MRM  85 

high  place  with  a  psaltery,  and  a  timbrel,  and  a  pipe,  and 
a  harp,  before  them  ;  and  they  shall  be  prophesying  :  and  6 
the  spirit  of  the  Lord  will  come  mightily  upon  thee, 
and  thou  shalt  prophesy  with  them,  and  shalt  be  turned 
into  another  man.     And  let  it  be,  when  these  signs  are  7 
come  unto  thee,  that  thou  do  as  occasion  serve  thee ;  for 
God  is  with  thee.    [R]  And  thou  shalt  go  down  before  me  8 
to  Gilgal ;  and,  behold,  I  will  come  down  unto  thee,  to 
offer  burnt  offerings,  and  to  sacrifice  sacrifices  of  peace 
offerings :  seven  days  shalt  thou  tarry,  till  I  come  unto 
thee,  and  shew  thee  what  thou  shalt  do.    [M]  And  it  was  9 
so,  that  when  he  had  turned  his  back  to  go  from  Samuel, 
God  gave  him  another  heart :  and  all  those  signs  came 
to  pass  that  day. 

And  when  they  came  thither  to  the  hill,  behold,  a  band  10 
of  prophets  met  him  ;  and  the  spirit  of  God  came  mightily 
upon  him,  and  he  prophesied  among  them.    And  it  came  11 
to  pass,  when  all  that  knew  him  beforetime  saw  that, 
behold,  he  prophesied  with  the  prophets,  then  the  people 
said  one  to  another.  What  is  this  that  is  come  unto  the 

early  prophets  doubtless  worked  for  their  country's  deliverance. 
Patriotism  was  still  inseparable  from  religion  (see  Budde,  The 
Religion  of  Israel  to  the  Exile,  pp.  97  ff.). 

psaltery,  &c.  :  for  the  instruments  here  enumerated  see  the 
article  'Music'  in  the  Bible  dictionaries. 

6.  the  spirit  of  the  IiOSD :  see  notes  on  verse  i  above  and  on 
xvi.  14,  and  for  the  endowments  attributed  by  the  Hebrews  to 
this  source,  Moore's  Judges  (Intern.  Crit.  Series),  pp.  87  f. 

and  shalt  be  turned  into  another  man  :  otherwise  ex- 
pressed in  verse  9 :  *  God  gave  (lit.  turned)  him  another  heart.' 
Saul's  is  the  first  conversion  recorded  in  sacred  literature  (for  the 
date,  tenth  century  B.C.,  see  the  Introduction). 

7.  Saul,  as  the  future  saviour  of  his  countr}',  is  instructed  to  take 
occasion  by  the  hand  (note  the  literal  rendering  in  the  margin). 

8.  This  verse  breaks  the  sequence  of  the  narrative,  and  is  now 
recognized  as  a  later  editorial  insertion  preparing  the  way  for 
xiii.  7^-15*,  which  see. 

10.  the  hill:  rather,  as  margin,  '  Gibeah,'  see  on  verse  5. 


86  I    SAMUEL  10.  12-18.     MD 

12  son  of  Kish?  Is  Saul  also  among  the  prophets?  And 
one  of  the  same  place  answered  and  said,  And  who  is 
their  father  ?     Therefore  it  became  a  proverb,  Is  Saul 

13  also  among  the  prophets  ?  And  when  he  had  made  an 
end  of  prophesying,  he  came  to  the  high  place. 

14  And  Saul's  uncle  said  unto  him  and  to  his  servant, 
Whither  went  ye  ?  And  he  said,  To  seek  the  asses  :  and 
when  we  saw  that  they  were  not  found,   we  came  to 

15  Samuel.     And  Saul's  uncle  said,  Tell  me,  I  pray  thee, 

16  what  Samuel  said  unto  you.  And  Saul  said  unto  his 
uncle,  He  told  us  plainly  that  the  asses  were  found.  But 
concerning  the  matter  of  the  kingdom,  whereof  Samuel 
spake,  he  told  him  not. 

17  [D]  And  Samuel  called  the  people  together  unto  the 

18  Lord  to  Mizpah  ;  and  he  said  unto  the  children  of  Israel, 
Thus  saith  the  Lord,  the  God  of  Israel,  I  brought  up 
Israel  out  of  Egypt,  and  I  delivered  you  out  of  the  hand 
of  the  Egyptians,  and  out  of  the  hand  of  all  the  kingdoms 

12.  And  who  Is  their  father?  A  difficult  phrase.  It  probably 
expresses  the  questioner's  surprise  that  the  son  of  a  wealthy  noble 
should  associate  with  a  band  of  fanatics  of  humble  origin,  men  of 
no  '  family.'  A  different  explanation  of  the  origin  of  the  proverb 
following,  taken  from  a  later  source,  is  given  xix.  22  ff.  —another 
of  the  many  indications  of  the  composite  origin  of  the  book. 

13.  he  came  to  the  higfh  place:  the  meeting  of  Saul  and  his 
uncle — probably  Ner,  the  father  of  his  future  general,  Abner 
(xiv.  50) — which  immediately  follows,  has  suggested  that  we 
-must  read  here  :  '  he  came  to  the  house  '  (so  most  moderns). 

14  flf.  In  this  interview  Saul's  modesty  and  prudence  are 
alike  conspicuous. 

17-19''  (to  over  us).  The  people  summoned  to  Mizpah.  This 
passage,  which  we  have  seen  reason  to  regard  as  the  original 
continuation  of  viii.  1-9  (D%  owes  its  present  position,  as 
introducing  the  scene  at  Mizpah,  to  the  editor's  desire  to  reduce  to 
a  single  chronological  sequence  the  two  conflicting  accounts  of 
Saul's  election  which  he  found  in  his  sources  (see  above,  p.  74  f.). 
Its  contents  are  a  recapitulation  of  the  Divine  message,  viii.  7  f. 


I   SAMUEL  10.  19-25.     D  87 

that  oppressed  you :  but  ye  have  this  day  rejected  your  19 
God,  who  himself  saveth  you  out  of  all  your  calamities 
and  your  distresses ;  and  ye  have  said  unto  him,  Nay,  but 
set  a  king  over  us.     Now  therefore  present  yourselves 
before  the  Lord  by  your  tribes,  and  by  your  thousands. 
So  Samuel  brought  all  the  tribes  of  Israel  near,  and  the  20 
tribe  of  Benjamin  was  taken.     And  he  brought  the  tribe  21 
of  Benjamin  near  by  their  families,  and  the  family  of  the 
Matrites  was  taken:  and  Saul  the  son  of  Kish  was  taken; 
but  when  they  sought   him,   he   could  not   be   found.  22 
Therefore  they  asked  of  the  Lord  further,  Is  there  yet 
a  man  to  come  hither  ?  And  the  Lord  answered,  Behold, 
he  hath  hid  himself  among  the  stuff.     And  they  ran  and  23 
fetched  him  thence ;    and  when  he   stood  among  the 
people,  he  was  higher  than  any  of  the  people  from  his 
shoulders   and  upward.      And  Samuel  said  to  all   the  24 
people.  See  ye  him  whom  the  Lord  hath  chosen,  that 
there  is  none  like  him  among  all  the  people?   And  all 
the  people  shouted,  and  said,  God  save  the  king. 

Then   Samuel   told   the   people   the  manner   of  the  25 

X.  i9''-24.  Saul  elected  by  the  sacred  lot,  the  continuation  of 
viii.  22  (see  p.  74  and  on  viii.  22). 

19.  by  your  thousands :  i.  e.  '  b}'  your  clans,'  R.  V.  *  families,' 
the  subdivisions  of  the  tribe,  and  in  turn  subdivided  into  '  fathers' 
houses,'  see  on  viii.  12. 

20.  was  taken :  the  technical  term  for  selection  by  the  sacred 
lot,  for  which  see  on  xiv.  41  f.  The  procedure  in  the  case  of 
Achan  (Joshua  vii.  16  ff.)  forms  a  close  parallel. 

21.  A  line  has  fallen  out  of  the  Hebrew  MS.  after  *  was  taken,' 
see  R.  V.  raarg  :  'and  he  brought  the  family  (i.e.  the  clan)  of  the 
Matrites  near  man  by  man'  1  LXX). 

22.  Read,  again  with  LXX  and  R.  V.  marg:  'Is  the  man 
(i.e.  Saul)  yet  come  hither? ' 

25  f£.  Saul  retttyyis  to  Gibeali.  Since  Samuel  has  already  in  the 
original  sequence  of  D  told  the  people  'the  manner  of  the  king' 
(viii.  II  ff.),  we  now  expect  the  farewell  address,  but  the  compiler, 
not  inappropriately,   has  removed  the  latter  to  the  close  of  the 


88  I    SAMUEL  10.  26--II.  i.     DM 

kingdom,  and  wrote  it  in  a  book,  and  laid  it  up  before 
the  Lord.    And  Samuel  sent  all  the  people  away,  every 

26  man  to  his  house.  And  Saul  also  went  to  his  house  to 
Gibeah ;  and  there  went  with  him  the  host,  whose  hearts 

27  God  had  touched.  But  certain  sons  of  Belial  said.  How 
shall  this  man  save  us?  And  they  despised  him,  and 
brought  him  no  present.     But  he  held  his  peace. 

H  [M]  Then  Nahash  the  Ammonite  came  up,  and  en- 
camped against  Jabesh-gilead  :  and  all  the  men  of  Jabesh 

whole  section,  retaining  here,  with  some  redactional  adjustments 
in  verse  25,  the  original  close  of  D's  narrative. 

26.  there  went  witli  him  the  host:  read,  'the  men  of  worth,' 
men  brave  and  loyal,  in  marked  contrast  to  the  disloyal  '  sons  of 
Belial.'  The  expressive  description  of  this  spontaneous  bod3'guard 
— '  whose  hearts  God  had  touched  '—is  unique  in  the  O.  T. 

27.  The  last  sentence  is  a  corruption  of  the  true  opening  of  the 
following  chapter  (see  on  xi.  i). 

{c)  xi.  I- 1 5.  Saul  delivers  Jabesh-gilead  from  the  Ammonites. 
The  kingdom  renewed  at  Gilgal. 

The  thread  of  the  older  source,  which  was  dropped  at  x.  16,  is 
now  resumed.  On  his  return  from  his  fateful  interview  with 
Samuel,  Saul  resumed  his  place  on  his  father's  estate  and  awaited 
the  *  occasion'  foreshadowed  by  the  seer  (x.  7%  This  was  supplied, 
after  the  lapse  of  a  month  (see  on  verse  i),  by  the  king  of  the 
Ammonites  attacking  the  Israelite  city  of  Jabesh-gilead.  How 
Saul,  in  the  expressive  words  of  his  later  namesake,  made  market 
of  his  opportunity  (Eph.  v.  16)  is  recorded  in  this  chapter.  On 
no  intelligible  hypothesis,  on  the  other  hand,  can  the  present 
narrative  be  regarded  as  the  continuation  of  x.  20-27.  There 
Saul  has  been  formally  invested  with  the  royal  authority  and  has 
returned  to  Gibeah  in  semi-state.  A  superficial  reading  of  xi.  4  ff. 
might  suggest  that  the  messengers  from  Jabesh-gilead  had  come 
to  Gibeah  expressly  to  invoke  the  assistance  of  the  new  king,  but 
this  will  be  seen  to  be  an  entire  misconception  of  the  plain  sense 
of  the  passage  (see  on  verses  4  f.). 

1.  Nahash  the  Ammonite :  see  on  2  Sam.  x.  i  f.  The  Greek 
text  has  preserved  the  true  reading  here  :  '  And  it  came  to  pass 
after  about  a  month  that  Nahash,  &c.'  (so  R.  V.  marg.). 

Jahesh-ifilead :  i.e.  Jabesh  in  Gilead  ;  the  name  is  still 
preserved  in  the  Wadi  Yabis  which  opens  into  the  Jordan  valley 
-opposite  Ibzik  (Bezek  of  verse  8),  but  the  precise  location  of  the 


I   SAMUEL  11.  2-7.     M  89 

said  unto  Nahash,  Make  a  covenant  with  us,  and  we  will 
serve  thee.     And  Nahash  the  Ammonite  said  unto  them,  2 
On  this  condition  will  I  make  it  with  you,  that  all  your 
right  eyes  be  put  out ;  and  I  will  lay  it  for  a  reproach 
upon,  all   Israel.     And  the  elders  of  Jabesh  said  unto  3 
him,   Give  us   seven  days'  respite,   that  we   may  send 
messengers  unto  ail  the  borders  of  Israel :  and  then,  if 
there  be  none  to  save  us,  we  will  come  out  to  thee. 
Then  came  the  messengers  to  Gibeah  of  Saul,  and  spake  4 
these  words  in  the  ears  of  the  people  :  and  all  the  people 
lifted  up  their  voice,  and  wept.    And,  behold,  Saul  came  5 
following  the  oxen  out  of  the  field ;  and  Saul  said,  What 
aileth  the  people  that  they  weep?   And  they  told  him 
the  words  of  the  men  of  Jabesh.     And  the  spirit  of  God  6 
came  mightily  upon  Saul  when  he  heard  those  words, 
and  his  anger  was  kindled  greatly.     And  he  took  a  yoke  7 
of  oxen,  and  cut  them  in  pieces,  and  sent  them  through- 
out all  the  borders  of  Israel  by  the  hand  of  messengers, 
saying,  Whosoever  cometh  not  forth  after  Saul  and  after 
Samuel,  so  shall  it  be  done  unto  his  oxen.     And  the 

city  is  uncertain  ;  Ed-deir  and  Miryamin  have  been  proposed. 
Jabesh  figures  honourably  in  the  later  history  of  Saul  (xxxi.  it, 
2  Sam.  ii.  4  ff.). 

4f.  In  the  course  of  prosecuting  their  appeal  for  help,  the 
messengers  arrive  at  Gibeah  of  Saul,  where  the  citizens  are 
moved  to  tears.  Saul,  however,  is  all  the  while  at  work  in 
the  field,  and  only  learns  casually,  as  it  were,  the  urgency  of 
the  situation  on  his  return  at  nightfall.  Clearly,  therefore,  the 
purpose  of  the  messengers'  visit  to  Gibeah  was  not  to  invoke  the 
aid  of  a  man — be  he  king  or  commoner — whom  it  was  not  even 
thought  necessary  to  inform  of  their  arrival. 

7.  The  symbolism  adopted  by  Saul  was  similar  in  significance 
to  that  of  the  fiery  cross  among  the  Scottish  clans  in  former  times. 
So  shall  it  be  done  unto  his  oxen  is  perhaps  a  toning  down  of 
a  more  vigorous  threat  applied  to  the  owners  of  the  latter.  Cf. 
the  action  of  the  Levite,  Judges  xix.  29,  which,  however,  is  not 
an  exact  parallel. 

and  after  Samuel :  a  later  addition  by  a  reader  who  failed  to 


90  I   SAMUEL  11.8-13.     MR 

dread  of  the  Lord  fell  on  the  people,  and  they  came  out 

8  as  one  man.  And  he  numbered  them  in  Bezek ;  and 
the  children  of  Israel  were  three  hundred  thousand,  and 

9  the  men  of  Judah  thirty  thousand.  i\.nd  they  said  unto 
the  messengers  that  came,  Thus  shall  ye  say  unto  the 
men  of  Jabesh-gilead,  To-morrow,  by  the  time  the  sun  is 
hot,  ye  shall  have  deliverance.  And  the  messengers 
came  and  told  the  men  of  Jabesh ;  and  they  were  glad. 

10  Therefore  the  men  of  Jabesh  said.  To-morrow  we  will 
come  out  unto  you,  and  ye  shall  do  with  us  all  that 

11  seemeth  good  unto  you.  And  it  was  so  on  the  morrow, 
that  Saul  put  the  people  in  three  companies ;  and  they 
came  into  the  midst  of  the  camp  in  the  morning  watch, 
and  smote  the  Ammonites  until  the  heat  of  the  day  :  and 
it  came  to  pass,  that  they  which  remained  were  scattered, 

12  so  that  two  of  them  were  not  left  together.  [R]  And  the 
people  said  unto  Samuel,  Who  is  he  that  said,  Shall  Saul 
reign  over  us  ?  bring  the  men,  that  we  may  put  them  to 

13  death.  And  Saul  said.  There  shall  not  a  man  be  put  to 
death  this  day  :  for  to-day  the  Lord  hath  wrought  deliver- 
ance in  Israel. 

note   the   subordinate   role   played    by   the   seer   in    this  source 
compared  with  the  other  (D). 

the  dread  of  Yahweh :  rather,  as  margin,  '  a  terror  from 
Yahweh '  ;  so  Gen.  xxxv.  5  '  a  terror  from  God,'  where  however 
it  paralysed,  deterred  from,  not  as  here  stimulated  to,  action. 
Cf.  xiv.  15. 

8.  Bezek  :  represented  by  the  ruins  at  Ibzik,  some  fourteen 
miles  south-west  of  Beisdn,  the  ancient  Beth-shan,  almost  due 
west  of  the  mouth  of  the  Wady  Yabis,  mentioned  above.  The 
exaggerated  numbers  that  follow,  and  the  suspicious  mention 
of  Judah  at  this  earl}^  stage,  suggest  a  later  interpolation. 

11.  in  the  xnoming'  watch:  the  last  of  the  three  watches  into 
which  the  night  was  divided  (Exod.  xiv.  24;  Lam.  ii.  19  ;  Judges 
vii.  19).  The  continuation  of  this  narrative  is  now  found  in 
verse  15.  Saul  has  approved  himself  worthy  of  the  Divine  selection, 
and  is  recognized  by  the  people  also  as  their  future  king.     In 


I   SA'MUEL  11.  14—12.  n.     RMD  91 

Then  said  Samuel  to  the  people.  Come  and  let  us  14 
go  to  Gilgal,  and  renew  the  kingdom  there.     [M]  And  15 
all  the  people  went  to  Gilgal ;  and  there  they  made  Saul 
king  before  the  Lord  in  Gilgal ;  and  there  they  sacrificed 
sacrifices  of  peace  offerings  before  the  Lord  ;  and  there 
Saul  and  all  the  men  of  Israel  rejoiced  greatly. 

[D]  And  Samuel  said  unto  all  Israel,  Behold,  I  have  12 
hearkened  unto  your  voice  in  all  that  ye  said  unto  me, 
and  have  made  a  king  over  you.     And  now,  behold,  the  2 
king  walketh  before  you  :  and  I  am  old  and  grayheaded  ; 
and,  behold,  my  sons  are  with  you :  and  I  have  walked 
before  you  from  my  youth  unto  this  day.     Here  I  am  :  3 

this  the  vox  popiiU  is  in  harmony  with  the  vox  Dei.  The  army, 
accordingly,  repairs  to  the  ancient  sanctuary  of  Gilgal,  near  Jericho, 
and  with  befitting  ceremonial  installs  its  victorious  leader  as  king 
of  Israel. 

12-14  on  the  other  hand,  is  recognized  by  all  critics  as  an 
editorial  paragraph,  the  purpose  of  which  is  to  harmonize,  as  far 
as  may  be,  the  two  divergent  accounts  of  the  manner  and  place  of 
Saul's  installation.  This  is  so  far  accomplished  by  representing 
the  ceremony  at  Gilgal  as  a  'renewing  of  the  kingdom,'  that  is, 
as  a  repetition  of  the  scene  at  Mizpah.  Saul,  as  yet,  as  it  were, 
merely  king  de  jure,  now  becomes  king  de  facto.  Verses  12  f.  are 
clearly  based  upon  the  closing  verses  of  the  younger  narrative 
(x.  25-7). 

((Y)  xii.  T-25.     SamneVs  farewell  address. 

Once  more  Samuel  appears  as  the  judge  of  all  Israel,  an  office 
which  he  now  formally  abdicates.  The  whole  chapter  evidently 
belongs  to  the  same  source  as  chs.  vii  and  viii,  and  forms,  as  v^'e 
have  seen,  the  natural  sequel  of  x.  20-24.  The  scene,  therefore, 
of  Samuel's  farewell  has  been  transferred  forharmonistic  purposes 
from  Mizpah  to  Gilgal,  The  address  is  an  excellent  specimen  of 
the  rhetorical  prose  of  which  the  discourses  of  Deuteronomy  are 
the  classical  example.  Yet,  while  the  style  is  cast  in  the  character- 
istic Deuteronomic  mould  (see  notes  below),  the  language  shows 
undeniable  points  of  contact  with  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel,  and  the 
exilic  portions  of  Isaiah,  a  statement  of  which  the  proof  must 
be  sought  in  the  larger  commentaries  of  Smith,  Lohr,  and 
Nowack. 


92  I   SAMUEL  12.  4-8.     D 

witness  against  me  before  the  Lord,  and  before  his 
anointed  :  whose  ox  have  I  taken  ?  or  whose  ass  have 
I  taken  ?  or  whom  have  I  defrauded  ?  whom  have 
I  oppressed  ?  or  of  whose  hand  have  I  taken  a  ransom 
to  Wind  mine  eyes  therewith  ?    and  I  will  restore  it  you. 

4  And  they  said,  Thou  hast  not  defrauded  us,  nor  op- 
pressed us,  neither  hast  thou  taken  aught  of  any  man's 

5  hand.  And  he  said  unto  them,  The  Lord  is  witness 
against  you,  and  his  anointed  is  witness  this  day,  that  ye 

6  have  not  found  aught  in  my  hand.  And  they  said,  He 
is  witness.  And  Samuel  said  unto  the  people.  It  is  the 
Lord  that  appointed  Moses  and  Aaron,  and  that  brought 

7  your  fathers  up  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt.  Now  therefore 
stand  still,  that  I  may  plead  with  you  before  the  Lord 
concerning  all  the  righteous  acts  of  the  Lord,  which  he 

8  did  to  you  and  to  your  fathers.  When  Jacob  was  come 
into  Egypt,  and  your  fathers  cried  unto  the  Lord,  then 

xii.   1-6.  Samuel  protests  his  integrity  as  judge. 

3.  before  the  ILORD,  and  before  Ms  anointed:  see  on  x.  i. 

The  principal  occurrences  of  this  notable  phrase  in  the  historical 
and  prophetical  books  are,  in  addition  to  verses  i,  5  :  xxiv.  6,  10, 
xxvi.  9,  IT,  16,  23,  2  Sam.  i.  14,  16,  all  applied  to  Saul;  2  Sam. 
xix.  21  (cf.  xxiii.  i)  David;  i  Sam.  ii.  35,  and  2  Sam.  xxii.  51 
(  =  Ps.  xviii.  50)  with  reference  to  the  Davidic  dynasty  ;  Isa.  xlv.  i, 
to  Cyrus;  i  Sam.  ii.  10,  Ps.  ii.  2  and  elsewhere,  to  the  Messianic 
king,  so  expressly  Dan.  ix.  25  f.,  the  only  O.T.  passage  where  the 
word  Messiah  occurs  in  A.V.     The  R.V.  has  'the  anointed  one.' 

a  ransom  [kopher) :  the  technical  term  for  blood-money  paid 
to  the  relatives  of  a  murdered  man — the  ivergild  of  the  Germanic 
races — which  was  strictly  forbidden  by  Hebrew  law  (Num.  xxxv. 
31  f.).  Here,  as  in  Amos  v.  12,  it  denotes  the  bribe  (so  R.V. 
marg.)  offered  to  a  judge  to  induce  him  to  acquit  the  murderer, 

to  blind  mine  eyes  therewith :  this  reading  gives  an  excellent 
sense,  although  some  would  prefer  the  interesting  variant  offered 
by  the  LXX,  see  margin. 

6.  It  is  the  I.ORD  :  better,  with  LXX  :  '  Witness  is  the  Lord 
that,'  &c. 

xii.  7-15.  The  witness  of  history  (cf.  the  parallel  in  Joshua  xxiv.  2  ff.\ 
8.  cried  unto  the  LORD  (also  verse  10,  vii.  8  f.,  viii.  18)  :  like 


I   SAMUEL  12.  y-12.     D  93 

the   Lord  sent  Moses  and  Aaron,  who  brought  forth 
your  fathers  out  of  Egypt,  and  made  them  to  dwell  in 
this  place.     But  they  forgat  the  Lord  their  God,  and  9 
he  sold  them  into  the  hand  of  Sisera,  captain  of  the  host 
of  Hazor,  and  into  the  hand  of  the  Philistines,  and  into 
the  hand  of  the  king  of  Moab,  and  they  fought  against 
them.     And  they  cried  unto  the  Lord,  and  said.  We  10 
have  sinned,  because  we  have  forsaken  the  Lord,  and 
have  served  the  Baalim  and  the  Ashtaroth  :   but  now 
deliver  us  out  of  the  hand  of  our  enemies,  and  we  will 
serve  thee.     And  the  Lord  sent  Jerubbaal,  and  Bedan,  11 
and  Jephthah,  and  Samuel,  and  delivered  you  out  of  the 
hand  of  your  enemies  on  every  side,  and  ye  dwelled  in 
safety.     And  when  ye  saw  that  Nahash  the  king  of  the  13 
children  of  Amnion  came  against  you,  ye  said  unto  me, 


'he  sold  them  into  the  hand  of  (verse  9),  one  of  the  standing 
formulae  of  the  Deuteronomic  framework  of  Judges,  the  latter 
phrase,  indeed,  occurring  nowhere  else. 

and  made  them  to  dwell  in  tMs  place :  this  '  expresses  just 
what  Moses  and  Aaron  did  not  do  '  (Driver) ;  read,  therefore,  with 
the  Versions  :  '  and  he  (Yahweh)  made  them  dwell.' 

9  ff.  With  this  reading  of  Israel's  history  during  the  period  of 
the  judges  the  exposition  of  the  author  of  Judges  ii.  iiff,  and 
parallels  should  be  compared.  The  scheme  is  the  same  in  both — 
apostasy  and  oppression  followed  by  penitent  prayer  and  deliver- 
ance.    See  further  on  verses  14  ff. 

Sisera,  captain  of  the  host  of  [  Jabin,  king  of]  Hazor  :  the 
inserted  words  are  from  the  LXX;  the  reference  is  to  Judges  iv.  aff. 

11.  Bedan:  a  corruption  of  Barak  (see  marg.). 

and  Samuel :  this  unexpected  introduction  of  Samuel  in  the 
third  person  is  most  easily  explained  by  the  assumption  that  the 
author  of  this  chapter  had  before  him,  or  in  his  recollection,  an 
edition  of  the  Book  of  Judges  in  which  Samuel  appeared  as  the 
deliverer  from  the  Philistine  oppression.  The  existence  of  such 
an  edition  has  been  maintained  on  other  grounds  by  several  recent 
critics.  The  remainder  of  this  verse  is  thoroughly  Deuteronomistic 
in  its  phraseology. 

12.  The  first  half  of  the  verse  is  almost  certainly  redactional. 
It  is  difficult  to  credit  the  author  of  this  source  with  a  statement  so 


94  I   SAMUEL  12.  13-17.     D 

Nay,  but  a  king  shall  reign  over  us  :   when  the  Lord 

13  your  God  was  your  king.  Now  therefore  behold  the 
king  whom  ye  have  chosen,  and  whom  ye  have  asked  for  : 

14  and,  behold,  the  Lord  hath  set  a  king  over  you.  If  ye 
will  fear  the  Lord,  and  serve  him,  and  hearken  unto  his 
voice,  and  not  rebel  against  the  commandment  of  the 
Lord,. and  both  ye  and  also  the  king  that  reigneth  over 

15  you  be  followers  of  the  Lord  your  God,  well:  but  if  ye 
will  not  hearken  unto  the  voice  of  the  Lord,  but  rebel 
against  the  commandment  of  the  Lord,  then  shall  the 
hand  of  the  Lord  be  against  you,  as  it  was  against  your 

16  fathers.     Now  therefore  stand  still  and  see  this  great 

17  thing,  which  the  Lord  will  do  before  your  eyes.  Is  it 
not  wheat  harvest  to-day  ?    I  will  call  unto  the  Lord, 


clearly  at  variance  not  only  with  the  picture  drawn  in  ch.  vii.  13  ff., 
but  even  with  the  closing  words  of  verse  11. 

when  the  IiORD  [Yahweh]  your  God  was  your  king' :  the 
principle  of  the  theocracy  in  its  simplest  form,  already  implied  in 
viii.  7,  X.  19  (cf.  Judges  viii.  23). 

14.  This  long  verse  illustrates  the  rhetorical  figure  termed 
aposiopesis,  the  apodosis  to  the  '  if  clause  being  left  unexpressed. 
The  italicized  ^  welV  of  R.V.  gives  the  sense  intended.  Verses 
14  f.  are  full  of  Deuteronomistic  words  and  phrases,  and  present 
an  excellent  summary  of  what  may  be  called  the  theodicy  of  the 
Deuteronomic  school.  Reading  the  history  of  their  nation  in  the 
light  of  the  ideals  and  doctrines  of  the  Book  of  the  Deuteronomy,  the 
historians  of  this  school  found  the  master-key  to  the  vicissitudes  of 
the  past  in  the  conviction  that  ^  fidelity  to  Yahweh  is  rewarded 
by  national  prosperity,  and  unfaithfulness  punished  by  national 
misfortune  '  (see  Skinners  Kings  in  this  series,  15  ff.).  This  re- 
tributive pragmatism  is  the  distinguishing  mark  of  the  editorial 
framework  of  the  Books  of  Kings. 

15.  as  it  was  agrainst  your  fathers  :  for  this  read  with  LXX : 
'and  against  your  king,'  cf.  verses  14,  25. 

xii.  16-25,  T^M  people^  miraculously  convinced  of  their  error ^ 
make  humble  confession. 

17.  wheat  harvest:  the  time  was  early  summer  (May-June), 
when  thunder  and  rain  are  almost  unknown  in  Palestine*,, , The 


I   SAMUEL  12.  18-23.     D  95 

that  he  may  send  thunder  and  rain  ;    and  ye  shall  knuvv 
and  see  that  your  wickedness  is  great,  which  ye  have 
done  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord,  in  asking  you  a  king. 
So  Samuel  called  unto  the  Lord;   and  the  Lord  sent  18 
thunder  and  rain  that  day :   and  all  the  people  greatly 
feared  the  Lord  and  Samuel.     And  all  the  people  said  19 
unto  Samuel,  Pray  for  thy  servants  unto  the  Lord  thy 
God,  that  we  die  not :  for  we  have  added  unto  all  our 
sins  this  evil,  to  ask  us  a  king.     And  Samuel  said  unto  20 
the  people,  Fear  not :  ye  have  indeed  done  all  this  evil : 
yet  turn  not  aside  from  following  the  Lord,  but  serve 
the  Lord  with  all  your  heart ;  and  turn  ye  not  aside :  2 1 
for  then  should  ye  go  after  vain  things  which  cannot  profit 
nor  deliver,  for  they  are  vain.     For  the  Lord  will  not  22 
forsake  his  people  for  his  great  name's  sake  :  because  it 
hath  pleased  the  Lord  to  make  you  a  people  unto  him- 
self.    Moreover  as  for  me,  God  forbid  that  I  should  sin  33 


second  half  of  the  verse  betrays  the  authors  uncompromising 
hostility  to  the  institution  of  the  monarchy. 

21.  Read  as  in  the  margin,  after  LXX :  'and  turn  ye  not 
aside  after  the  vanities  which  cannot  profit,'  &c.  Vain  things 
(Heb.  tohti^  a  barren  waste,  Gen.  i-  2,  hence  'nothingness,' 
'vanity') — a  favourite  word  of  the  'second'  Isaiah,  by  whom  the 
epithets  '  vanity  '  and  '  profitable  for  nothing '  are  both  applied  to 
the  idols  of  the  heathen  (xliv.  9  f.).  This  is  also  the  sense  here. 
It  is  difficult  to  avoid  the  inference  that  the  writer  of  this  chapter 
was,  at  the  earliest,  a  contemporary  of  the  author  of  Isaiah  xl.  ff". 
(c,  540  B.  c).     See  further.  Introduction,  sect,  iv, 

22.  it  hath  pleased  the  IiOKD  to  make  you  a  people  unto 
himself:  God's  free  choice  of  Israel  to  be  His  'peculiar  people ' 
is  one  of  the  characteristic  ideas  of  Deuteronomy  (See  Driver's 
Deut.,  pp.  XX  f.),  but  goes  back  to  the  classical  formulation  of  the 
covenant  relation  between  Yahwehand  Israel  in  Exod.xix.  sf.  (J). 

23.  Samuel  divests  himself  of  his  authority  as  Yahweh's 
representative  in  the  theocracy,  reserving  only  the  privilege  of 
being  his  people's  intercessor  (see  on  vii.  5>. 

The  original  close  of  D's  narrative  is  probably  to  be  sought  in 
X.  25  ff".  (see  above;. 


96  I    SAMUEL  12.  24—13.  2.     DZM 

against  the  Lord  in  ceasing  to  pray  for  you :  but  I  will 

24  instruct  you  in  the  good  and  the  right  way.     Only  fear 

25  the  Lord,  and  serve  him  in  truth  with  all  your  heart : 
for  consider  how  great  things  he  hath  done  for  you. 
But  if  ye  shall  still  do  wickedly,  ye  shall  be  consumed, 
both  ye  and  your  king. 

13      [Z]  Saul  was  [f/iir/y']  years  old  when  he  began  to  reign ; 

2  and  he  reigned  two  years  over   Israel.     [M]  And  Saul 

chose  him  three  thousand  men  of  Israel ;  whereof  two 


C.  xiii-xiv.  SattTs  Ftyst  Campaign  against  the  Philistines. 
In  this  subdivision  it  is  not  difficult  to  recognize  in  its  main 
portion  (xiii.  2-7%  xiv.  1-46,  52)  the  hand  of  the  early  historian 
and  friend  of  the  monarchy  who  has  already  told  us  of  Saul's 
first  essay  in  leadership,  and  of  his  subsequent  elevation  to  the 
throne  of  Israel  at  Gilgal.  Saul's  life-work  —  the  work  to  which 
he  had  been  expressly  called  of  God  through  His  prophet — 
was  now  before  him.  This  was  no  other  than  the  deliverance 
of  Israel  from  the  Philistine  yoke  (ix.  16),  and  to  this  Saul  now 
bends  his  energies,  assisted  by  his  son  Jonathan,  whose  youthful 
impetuosity  in  slaying  the  Philistine  Resident  in  Gibeah  (see  on 
verse  3)  struck  the  first  blow  in  the  cause  of  Hebrew  liberty 
and  independence.  From  a  later  source  we  have  the  account 
of  Saul's  rejection,  and  other  accretions  to  the  main  story,  as 
will  appear  in  the  notes.  The  present  chapter-divisions  repre- 
sent the  two  sections   of  the  narrative. 

{a)  xiii.  The  opening  of  the  Way  of  Independence — Saul  rejected  at 
Gilgal. 

1.  This  verse  is  an  excellent  illustration  of  the  way  in  which 
notes  of  all  kinds  find  their  way  from  the  margins  of  ancient  MSS. 
into  the  text.  As  it  stands  it  is  palpably  absurd,  since  Jonathan 
was  already  of  an  age  to  be  in  command  of  a  division  of  the  Hebrew 
troops.  The  only  plausible  explanation  is  that  the  verse  was 
originally  a  note  by  a  reader  on  the  margin  of  his  MS.  in  this  form  : 
*  Saul  was  . .  .  years  old,  &c.  ;  and  he  reigned  .  . .  years  over  Israel,' 
on  the  model  of  the  editorial  note  2  Sam.  v,  4,  The  blanks  were 
intended  to  be  filled  in  later  by  computation.  For  an  attempt  to 
compute  approximately  the  real  numbers  see  Introduction,  sect, 
ix,  the  Chronology  of  Samuel. 

2.  Of  the  troops  that  had  accompanied  him  to  Jabesh-gilead  and 
thence  to  Gilgal,  Saul  retains  3,000  picked  men,  whom  he  stations 


I  SAMUEL  13.  3-5.     M  97 

thousand  were  with  Saul  in  Michmash  and  in  the  mount 
of  Beth-el,  and  a  thousand  were  with  Jonathan  in  Gibeah 
of  Benjamin  :  and  the  rest  of  the  people  he  sent  every 
man  to  his  tent.  And  Jonathan  smote  the  garrison  of  3 
the  Philistines  that  was  in  Geba,  and  the  Philistines 
heard  of  it.  And  Saul  blew  the  trumpet  throughout  all 
the  land,  saying,  Let  the  Hebrews  hear.  And  all  Israel  4 
heard  say  that  Saul  had  smitten  the  garrison  of  the 
Philistines,  and  that  Israel  also  was  had  in  abomination 
with  the  Philistines.  And  the  people  were  gathered 
together  after  Saul  to  Gilgal 

And  the  Philistines  assembled  themselves  together  to  5 
fight    with    Israel,    thirty    thousand    chariots,    and    six 
thousand  horsemen,  and  people  as  the  sand  which  is  on 
the   sea  shore  in  multitude :  and  they  came   up,  and 


in  three  important  positions.  The  similarity  of  the  place-names 
Geba  and  Gibeah  (both  =  '  hill ' ),  of  which  there  were  several  in 
Central  Palestine,  has  led  to  confusion  between  them,  and 
obscured  the  real  progress  of  the  campaign.     (^See  notes  below.') 

Michmasli:  the  modern  Muhmds,  high  up  the  Wadi Suwcinit 
on  its  northern  side,  separated  by  a  narrow  valley  with  steep  sides, 
'  the  pass  of  Michmash '  (verse  23),  from  Geba  (xiv.  5). 

G-ibeah  of  Benjamin :  read  '  Geba  of  Benjamin,'  as  in  verse  16, 
the  town  just  described  as  lying  opposite  Michmasli. 

3.  Jonathan  smote  the  g'arrison :  rather,  '■  the  Resident '  or 
political  officer  of  the  Philistines,  who  had  his  seat  at  Gibeah  of 
God  (see  on  x.  5'',  which  should  be  read  for  Oeha  of  the  text. 
The  original  seems  to  have  continued  thus  :  'And  the  Philistines 
heard  say,  the  Hebrews  have  revolted  (^Wellhauscn  and  most 
moderns  after  LXX^,  and  Saul  blew  the  trumpet  throughout  all 
the  land.' 

4.  to  Oilgral :  a  harmonizing  addition  to  the  true  text,  preparing 
the  way,  like  x.  8,  for  the  insertion  of  the  later  section  xiii.  8-15. 

5.  thirty  thousand  chariots :  the  numbers,  as  so  frequently, 
are  absurdly  high,  and  out  of  proportion  to  the  number  of  cavalry. 
The  Philistines  scored  the  first  success,  driving  in  the  advance 
guard  near  Beth-el  (verse  2),  causing  Snul  to  evacuate  Michmash. 
and  perhaps  inflicting  on  him  a  severe  defeat,  which  v/ould  explain 
the  panic  of  verses  6 1. 

II 


98  I   SAMUEL  13.  6-9.     M  ? 

6  pitched  in  Michmash,  eastward  of  Beth-aven.  When  the 
men  of  Israel  saw  that  they  were  in  a  strait,  (for  the 
people  were  distressed,)  then  the  people  did  hide  them- 
selves in  caves,  and  in  thickets,  and  in  rocks,  and  in 

7  holds,  and  in  pits.  Now  some  of  the  Hebrews  had  gone 
over  Jordan  to  the  land  of  Gad  and  Gilead  ;  [?]  but  as  for 
Saul,  he  was  yet  in  Gilgal,  and  all  the  people  followed 
him  trembling. 

8  And  he  tarried  seven  days,  according  to  the  set  time 
that  Samuel  had  appointed-,   but  Samuel  came  not  to 

9  Gilgal ;  and  the  people  were  scattered  from  him.  And 
Saul  said,  Bring  hither  the  burnt  offering  to  me,  and  the 

7.  the  laud  of  Gad  and  Gilead :  the  districts  respectively  south 
and  north  of  the  Jabbok  {Wadi  Zerka). 

xiii.  7''-i5".  The  first  rejection  of  Saul. 

This  passage,  as  to  the  origin  of  which  we  can  only  conjecture, 
must  be  judged  from  its  author's  standpoint,  not  from  ours.  The 
compiler  of  Samuel  has  already  prepared  the  way  for  its  insertion 
at  this  point  (cf.  verses  8,  11  with  x.  8  and  note  there).  That  it 
interrupts  the  natural  sequence  of  the  earlj'  narrative  of  the 
Philistine  campaign,  that  it  is  inferior,  to  say  the  least,  in  historical 
probability  to  its  parallel  in  ch.  xv,  and  that  it  is  the  product  of 
the  religious  reflection  of  a  later  age  are  points  on  which  most 
modern  scholars  are  agreed.  The  key  to  its  origin  and  meaning 
seems  to  be  given  in  verse  13,  read  in  the  light  of  2  Sam.  vii.  11-16. 
The  reflective  piety  of  an  age  dominated  by  the  Deuteronomic 
doctrine  of  Divine  retribution  (see  on  xii.  14  f.)  saw  in  the  fact 
that  Saul  founded  no  dynasty  like  David  some  heinous  sin  against 
the  Most  High.  Tradition  had  long  been  busy  with  the  historical 
fact  of  Samuel's  breach  with  Saul  at  Gilgal,  and  here  we  have  one 
form  of  the  tradition  used  to  inculcate  the  truth  that  the  will  of 
God  must  reign  supreme  upon  the  earth.  Though  it  is  impossible 
for  the  modern  reader  not  to  sympathize  with  Saul  in  his  extremity, 
yet  many  times  in  the  previous  history  of  Israel  '  man's  extremitj'' 
had  been  'God's  opportunity.'  So,  thought  this  pious  writer,  it 
would  have  been  again  at  Gilgal,  and  he  has  the  argument  of 
history  on  his  side  (see  xiv.  6). 

*7^.  followed  him:  read,  with  LXX  (L),  'forsookhim  trembling.' 

9.  Bring'  hither  the  burnt  offering',  &c. :  the  reference  is  to  the 
ancient  custom  of  opening  a  campaign  with  sacrifices  for  the  con- 


I   SAMUEL  13.  10-14.     ?  99 

peace   ofterings.     And   he   offered   the   burnt    offering. 
And  it  came  to  pass  that,  as  soon  as  he  had  made  an  10 
end  of  offering  the  burnt  offering,  behold^  Samuel  came ; 
and  Saul  went  out  to  meet  him,  that  he  might  salute 
him.     And  Samuel  said,  What  hast  thou  done?    And  u 
Saul  said,  Because  I  saw  that  the  people  were  scattered 
from  me,  and  that  thou  camest  not  within   the   days 
appointed,  and  that  the  PhiHstines  assembled  themselves 
together  at  Michmash ;   therefore  said  I,  Now  will  the  12 
Philistines  come  down  upon  me  to  Gilgal,  and  I  have 
not  intreated  the  favour  of  the  Lord  :  I  forced  myself 
therefore,  and  offered  the  burnt  offering.     x\nd  Samuel  13 
said  to  Saul,  Thou  hast  done  foolishly :  thou  hast  not 
kept  the  commandment  of  the  Lord  thy  God,  which  he 
commanded  thee :   for  now  would  the  Lord  have  es- 
tablished thy  kingdom  upon  Israel  for  ever.     But  now  14 
thy  kingdom  shall  not  continue :  the  Lord  hath  sought 
him  a  man  after  his  own  heart,  and  the  Lord  hath 
appointed  him  to  be  prince  over  his  people,   because 
thou  hast  not  kept  that  which  the  Lord  commanded 
thee. 


secration  of  the  warriors.  Hence  to  'prepare'  war  (Mic.  iii.  5, 
Joel  iii.  9,  &c.,  R.V.  marg.)  is  literally  to  'consecrate'  war,  and 
the  'consecrated  ones'  of  Isa.  xiii.  3  (R.V.)  and  elsewhere  are  the 
soldiers.  For  effects  of  the  war  taboo  see  xxi.  4  f.,  2  Sam.  xi.  11  ff. 
10.  Saul  went  out  to  .  .  .  salute  hiin :  it  is  significant  of  the 
dogmatic  standpoint  of  this  passage  that  of  the  two  chief  officers 
of  the  theocracy  the  priest  is  greater  than  the  king. 

13.  The  point  of  Samuel's  remark  is  better  brought  out  by  a 
slight  change  of  reading  :  '  hadst  thou  kept  the  commandment .  . . 
the  Lord  would  now  have  established  thy  kingdom  for  ever.' 
For  the  bearing  of  this  on  the  whole  passage  see  introductory 
paragraph. 

14.  a  man  after  his  own  heart :  the  idealized  David  of  the 
later  Hebrew  writers.  For  the  form  of  the  expression  cf.  Jer.  iii.  5, 
for  its  substance,  2  Kings  xv.  3-5. 

H  2 


loo  I   SAMUEL  13.15-21.     ?MZ 

15  And  Samuel  arose,  and  gat  him  up  from  Gilgal  unto 
Gibeah  of  Benjamin.  [M]  And  Saul  numbered  the  people 
that  were  present  with  him,  about  six. hundred  men. 

16  And  Saul,  and  Jonathan  his  son,  and  the  people  that 
were  present  with  them,  abode  in  Geba  of  Benjamin  : 

17  but  the  Philistines  encamped  in  Michmash.  And  the 
spoilers  came  out  of  the  camp  of  the  Philistines  in  three 
companies  :   one  company   turned   unto   the   way   that 

1 8  leadeth  to  Ophrah,  unto  the  land  of  Shual :  and  another 
company  turned  the  way  to  Beth-horon  :  and  another 
company  turned  the  way  of  the  border  that  looketh  down 
upon  the  valley  of  Zeboim  toward  the  wilderness. 

19  [Z]  Now  there  was  no  smith  found  throughout  ail  the 
land  of  Israel :  for  the  Philistines  said,  Lest  the  Hebrews 

20  make  them  swords  or  spears :  but  all  the  Israelites  went 
down  to  the  Philistines,  to  sharpen  every  man  his  share, 

2 1  and  his  coulter,  and  his  axe,  and  his  mattock ;  yet  they 
had  a  file  for  the  mattocks,  and  for  the  coulters,  and  for 


xiii.  is'^-as.  The  PhiUstines  overrun  the  district.  Verse  15''  con- 
tinues the  early  narrative  interrupted  at  verse  7.  Saul,  as  w^e 
saw,  had  been  compelled  to  retire  upon  Geba,  leaving  Michmash 
in  the  enemy's  hands. 

17.  For  the  direction  of  the  three  raiding  parties  and  identi- 
fication of  the  sites,  see  G.  A.  Smith,  Hist.  Geog.  p.  291,  note  i. 

18.  the  way  of  the  border :  read,  as  suggested  by  the  LXX  : 
*  the  way  of  the  hill  that  overhangs  the  valley  of  hyenas,'  a  name 
still  preserved  in  the  neighbourhood. 

19-22.  Another  interpolation  inserted  into  M,  giving  a  legendary 
exaggeration  of  the  straits  to  which  the  Hebrews  were  reduced. 
Had  it  really  gone  so  hard  with  them,  however,  as  is  stated  here, 
one  is  at  a  loss  to  see  how  Saul  could  have  relieved  Jabesh-gilead, 
and  still  less  how  he  could  have  ventured  to  face  the  Philistines 
themselves.  The  text  is  much  corrupted  in  parts,  as  the  margin 
informs  us  ;  the  student  is  referred  to  Driver's  Notes  and  the 
larger  commentaries  for  suggested  emendations.  Much  light  on 
the  nature  of  the  implements  mentioned  in  the  text  will  be  found 
in  Dr.  Post's  illustrated  paper  on  those  of  the  Syrian  peasantrv 
of  to-day.  PEFQSt.,  1891,  pp.  iioff. 


I    SAMUEL    13.32—14.6.     ZM  loi 

the  forks,  and  for  the  axes  ;  and  to  set  the  goads.  So  2  2 
it  came  to  pass  in  the  day  of  battle,  that  there  was 
neither  sword  nor  spear  found  in  the  hand  of  any  of  the 
people  that  were  with  Saul  and  Jonathan  :  but  with  Saul 
and  with  Jonathan  his  son  was  there  found.  [M]  And  the  23 
garrison  of  the  Philistines  went  out  unto  the  pass  of 
Michmash. 

Now  it  fell  upon  a  day,  that  Jonathan  the  son  of  Saul  14 
said  unto  the  young  man  that  bare  his  armour,  Come 
and  let  us  go  over  to  the  Philistines'  garrison,  that  is  on 
yonder  side.      But  he  told  not  his  father.     And  Saul  a 
abode  in  the  uttermost  part  of  Gibeah  under  the  pome- 
granate tree  which  is  in  Migron  :  and  the  people  that 
were  with  him  were  about  six  hundred  men  ;  and  Ahijah,  3 
the  son  of  Ahitub,  Ichabod's  brother,  the  son  of  Phinehas, 
the  son  of  Eli,  the  priest  of  the  Lord  in  Shiloh,  wearing 
an  ephod.     And  the  people  knew  not  that  Jonathan  was 
gone.     And   between   the   passes,   by   which   Jonathan  4 
sought  to  go  over  unto  the  Philistines'  garrison,  there 
was  a  rocky  crag  on  the  one  side,  and  a  rocky  crag  on 
the  other  side  :  and  the  name  of  the  one  was  Bozez,  and 
the  name  of  the  other  Seneh.     The  one  crag  rose  up  on  5 
the  north  in  front  of  Michmash,  and  the  other  on  the 
south  in  front  of  Geba.    And  Jonathan  said  to  the  young  6 

(b)  xiv.  Jonathan- s  exploit  and  its  sequel. 

2.  Oibeah  :  read  'Geba,'  as  required  by  xiii.  16  and  verse  5 
below,  and  continue  :  '  under  the  pomegranate  tree  which  is  by 
the  threshing-floor  '  (so  Wellhausen,  reading  migrdn  for  migron), 

3.  Ahijah,  the  son  of  Ahitub :  usually,  but  unnecessarily 
identified  with  Ahimelech,  the  priest  of  Nob,  see  on  xxi.  2. 

wearing'  an  ephod:  a  mistaken  rendering  for  *  carrj'ing  the 
ephod,'  see  on  ii.  28.  The  statement  throws  into  relief  the  deeply 
religious  character  of  baul.  who,  like  David  (xxiii.  9,  xxx.  7,  &c.). 
look  no  important  step  without  inquiring  of  God  by  means  of 
this  sacred  object.  See  further  on  verses  18.  41  below,  and 
xxviii.  6. 


102  I   SAMUEL  14.  7-13.     M 

man  that  bare  his  armour,  Come  and  let  us  go  over 
unto  the  garrison  of  these  uncircumcised  :  it  may  be  that 
the  Lord  will  work  for  us  :  for  there  is  no  restraint  to 

7  the  Lord  to  save  by  many  or  by  few.  And  his  armour- 
bearer  said  unto  him,  Do  all  that  is  in  thine  heart :  turn 
thee,  behold  I  am  with  thee  according   to  thy  heart. 

8  Then  said  Jonathan,  Behold,  we  will  pass  over  unto  the 

9  men,  and  we  will  discover  ourselves  unto  them.  If  they 
say  thus  unto  us.  Tarry  until  we  come  to  you ;  then  we 
will  stand  still  in  our  place,  and  will  not  go  up  unto  them. 

10  But  if  they  say  thus.  Come  up  unto  us  ;  then  we  will  go 
up :  for  the  Lord  hath  delivered  them  into  our  hand : 

11  and  this  shall  be  the  sign  unto  us.  And  both  of  them 
discovered  themselves  unto  the  garrison  of  the  Philistines : 
and  the  Philistines  said.  Behold,  the  Hebrews  come  forth 

12  out  of  the  holes  where  they  had  hid  themselves.  And 
the  men  of  the  garrison  answered  Jonathan  and  his 
armourbearer,  and  said,  Come  up  to  us,  and  we  will 
shew  you  a  thing.  And  Jonathan  said  unto  his  armour- 
bearer,  Come  up  after  me  :  for  the  Lord  hath  delivered 

13  them  into  the  hand  of  Israel.  And  Jonathan  climbed 
up  upon  his  hands  and  upon  his  feet,  and  his  armour- 
bearer  after  him  :   and  they  fell  before  Jonathan ;  and 

6.  there  is  no  restraint  to  tlie  IiORD,  &c. :  a  fine  confessio 
fidei  o{  \\\\\z\i  Gideon's  adventure  (Judges  vii.  4fr.)  is  the  classical 
embodiment  and  illustration.  It  was  quoted  with  effect  by  another 
Hebrew  paladin,  the  hero  of  a  later  War  of  Independence  (i  Mace, 
iii.  i8").     Cf.  2  Chron.  xiv.  11  R.  V. 

7.  The  Greek  text  of  the  armourbearer  s  reply  is  more  ex- 
pressive :  '  Do  all  to  which  thine  heart  inclines  ;  behold,  I  am  with 
thee,  as  thy  heart  so  is  my  heart,'  a  Hebrew  idiom  for  unanimity 
of  sentiment  (2  Kings  x.  15). 

9.  Underneath  this,  to  us  somewhat  casual,  method  of  ascer- 
taining the  Divine  will,  lies  the  profound  conviction  that  every 
word  and  act  of  men  is  ordered  by  the  Divine  governance. 
Cf.  vi.  7  ff. 


i, 


I   SAMUEL  14.  14-18.     M  103 

his  armourbearer  slew  them  after  him.     And  that  first  14 
slaughter^  which  Jonathan  and  his  armourbearer  made, 
was  about  twenty  men,  within  as  it  were  half  a  furrow's 
length  in  an  acre  of  land.     And  there  was  a  trembling  15 
in  the  camp,  in  the  field,  and  among  all  the  people ;  the 
garrison,  and  the  spoilers,  they  also  trembled :  and  the 
earth  quaked  ;  so  there  was  an  exceeding  great  trembling. 
And  the   watchmen    of   Saul    in    Gibeah   of  Benjamin  16 
looked ;  and,  behold,  the  multitude  melted  away,  and 
they  went  hither  and  thither. 

Then  said  Saul  unto  the  people  that  were  with  him,  17 
Number  now,  and  see  who  is  gone  from  us.     And  when 
they  had  numbered,  behold,  Jonathan  and  his  armour- 
bearer   were   not   there.     And  Saul  said  unto   Ahijah,  18 
Bring  hither  the  ark  of  God.     For  the  ark  of  God  was 


14.  The  last  clause  is  exceedingly  corrupt,  and  no  satisfactory 
reconstruction  has  yet  been  proposed. 

15.  The  first  half  of  the  verse  seems  overloaded.  Deleting  the 
comma  after  camp,  we  may  find  four  bodies  enumerated,  (i)  the 
main  body  of  armed  men  encamped  in  the  open  country  (the 
field),  (2)  the  array  of  camp-followers  (all  the  people)  indispens- 
able to  an  Eastern  armj',  (3)  the  outpost  garrison  surprised  by 
Jonathan,  and  (4)  the  foraging  parties  of  xiii.  17  f.  An  earth- 
quake increased  the  panic,  which  the  historian  terms  'a  trembling 
of— 7.^.  sent  by— God  '  (R.  V.  marg.).  The  word  panic  itself 
reminds  us  that  such  attacks  of  fright  without  apparent  cause 
were  ascribed  by  the  Greeks  to  the  god  Pan, 

xiv.  16-23.      General  roiti  of  tlic  Pliilisiiiies.  ,",     ,'^,7-,-, 

16.  Gibeah  of  Benjamin :  read  'Geba  of  Benjamin,' as  xiii.  16. 
18.  The  verse  as  it  stands  cannot  be  original,  for  the  simple 

reason  that  the  Ark  was  not  at  that  time  with  the  children  of 
Israel,  but  in  apparent  oblivion  at  Kiriath-jearim.  Read  with 
the  LXX  (see  R.  V.  marg, ),  as  required  by  verse  3  :  '  Bring 
hither  the  ephod  ;  for  he  bore  the  ephod  at  that  time  before 
Israel,'  The  thoughtless  alteration  in  the  received  text  is  due  to 
a  scribe  who  took  offence  at  this  ancient  method  of  ascertaining 
the  will  of  the  deity.  Cf  the  same  change  2  Kings  ii.  26,  which 
refers  back  to  1  Sam.  xxiii.  9.  xxx.  7  ;  in  both  these  passages  the 
original  reading  *  the  ephod  '  is  still  preserved.  ^ 


104  I   SAMUEL  14.  19-25.     M 

19  there  at  that  time  with  the  children  of  Israel.  And  it 
came  to  pass,  while  Saul  talked  unto  the  priest,  that  the 
tumult  that  was  in  the  camp  of  the  Philistines  went  on 
and  increased  :  and  Saul  said  unto  the  priest,  Withdraw 

20  thine  hand.  And  Saul  and  all  the  people  that  were  with 
him  were  gathered  together,  and  came  to  the  battle : 
and,  behold,  every  man's  sword  was  against  his  fellow, 

21  and  there  ivas  a  very  great  discomfiture.  Now  the 
Hebrews  that  were  with  the  Philistines  as  beforetime, 
which  went  up  with  them  into  the  czm^from  ike  country 
round  about ;    even  they  also  turned  to   be   with   the 

22  Israelites  that  w'ere  with  Saul  and  Jonathan.  Likewise 
all  the  men  of  Israel  which  had  hid  themselves  in  the 
hill  country  of  Ephraim,  when  they  heard  that  the 
Philistines  fled,  even  they  also  followed  hard  after  them 

23  in  the  battle.     So  the  Lord  saved  Israel  that  day  :  and 

24  the  battle  passed  over  by  Beth-aven.  And  the  men  of 
Israel  were  distressed  that  day  :  but  Saul  adjured  the 
people,  saying,  Cursed  be  the  man  that  eateth  any  food 
until  it  be  evening,  and  I  be  avenged  on  mine  enemies. 

25  So  none  of  the  people  tasted  food.     And  all  the  people 

19.  Withdraw  thine  hand :  before  Ahijah  is  able  to  manipulate 
the  oracle  Saul  has  become  convinced  that  the  time  for  action  has 
come. 

21.  into  the  camp  .  .  .  round  about :  a  very  slight  change 
removes  the  awkwardness  of  the  construction  in  the  original  and 
gives  the  following  :  '  The  Hebrews  that  were  with  the  Philistines 
heretofore,  and  that  had  come  up  with  them  into  the  camp,  they 
also  turned  to  be  with,'  &c.  (Greek  and  Syriac  Versions). 

23.  Beth-aven  may  be  Beth-el ;  but  the  more  natural  direction 
of  the  flight  was  westwards  (verse  ^\).  Smith  and  Budde  would 
read  '  Beth-horon  '  with  some  ancient  Versions. 

xiv.  24-35.  Jonathan  unwitiiiigly  violates  a  food  taboo,  rashly 
ordered  by  Saul, 

24-26.  Saul's  action  at  this  point  must  be  interpreted  in  the 
light  of  the  religious  ideas  of  his  time.     Yahweh  had  just  shown 


I   SAMUEL  14.  26-32.     M  105 

came  into  the  forest ;   and  there  was  honey  upon  the 
ground.     And   when  the  people  were   come   unto  the  26 
forest,  behold,  the  honey  dropped :  but  no  man  put  his 
hand  to  his  mouth ;    for  the  people   feared  the  oath. 
But  Jonathan  heard  not  when  his  father  charged  the  27 
people  with  the  oath  :  wherefore  he  put  forth  the  end  of 
the  rod  that  was  in  his  hand,  and  dipped  it  in  the  honey- 
comb, and  put  his  hand  to  his  mouth  j   and  his  eyes 
were  enlightened.     Then  answered  one  of  the  people,  28 
and  said,  Thy  father  straitly   charged  the  people  with 
an  oath,  saying,  Cursed  be  the  man  that  eateth  food 
this   day.      And   the   people   were   faint.      Then    said  29 
Jonathan,  My  father  hath  troubled  the  land  :  see,  I  pray 
you,   how  mine  eyes  have   been   enlightened,    because 
I  tasted  a  little  of  this  honey.    How  much  more,  if  haply  30 
the  people  had  eaten  freely  to-day  of  the  spoil  of  their 
enemies  which  they  found?    for  now  hath  there  been 
no   great   slaughter  among  the    Philistines.     And  Ihey  31 
smote  of  the  Philistines  that  day  from  Michmash  to 
Aijalon  :    and   the   people   were   very   faint.     And  the  32 
people  flew  upon  the  spoil,  and  took  sheep,  and  oxen, 

that  He  was  present  with  the  host,  and  the  motive  of  the  food 
taboo  or  prohibition  was,  by  this  act  of  self-denial,  to  secure  the 
continued  assistance  of  the  deity.  The  Greek  text  is  here  fuller 
and  more  intelligible,  and  by  its  help  the  original  may  be  thus 
conjecturally  restored  :  '  And  all  the  people  were  with  Saul, 
about  ten  thousand  men,  and  the  battle  was  spread  over  the  hill 
country  of  Ephraim.  And  Saul  vowed  a  vow  on  that  day,  and 
adjured  the  people,  saying,  Cursed  .  .  .  enemies.  And  there  was 
honeycomb  upon  the  face  of  the  ground,  and  the  people  came  to 
the  honeycomb,  and  the  honey  overflowed  (Klostcrmann,  or  '  the 
bees  had  gone,'  Wellhausen),  but  no  man,'  &c. 

29.  My  father  hath  troubled  the  land :  this  is  too  feeble  for 
the  'ominous  word'  of  the  original ;  rather,  *my  father  hath  brought 
disaster  upon  the  land  "    Joshua  vii.  25  ;  Judges  xi.  35,  &c.). 

32  f.  The  earliest  recorded  instance  of  the  abstinence  from 
blood,  which  the  Jews  have  rigorously  observed  to  the  present 


io6  I   SAMUEL  14.  33-38.     M 

and   calves,  and  slew  them  on  the  ground :   and  the 

33  people  did  eat  them  with  the  blood.  Then  they  told 
Saul,  saying,  Behold,  the  people  sin  against  the  Lord, 
in  that  they  eat  with  the  blood.  And  he  said.  Ye 
have  dealt  treacherously  :  roll  a  great  stone  unto  me  this 

34  day.  And  Saul  said.  Disperse  yourselves  among  the 
people,  and  say  unto  them,  Bring  me  hither  every  man 
his  ox,  and  every  man  his  sheep,  and  slay  them  here, 
and  eat ;  and  sin  not  against  the  Lord  in  eating  with  the 
blood.     And  all  the  people  brought  every  man  his  ox 

35  with  him  that  night,  and  slew  them  there.  And  Saul 
built  an  altar  unto  the  Lord  :  the  same  was  the  first 
altar  that  he  built  unto  the  Lord. 

3<5  And  Saul  said.  Let  us  go  down  after  the  Philistines 
by  night,  and  spoil  them  until  the  morning  light,  and  let 
us  not  leave  a  man  of  them.  And  they  said,  Do  what- 
soever seemeth  good  unto  thee.     Then  said  the  priest, 

37  Let  us  draw  near  hither  unto  God.  And  Saul  asked 
counsel  of  God,  Shall  I  go  down  after  the  Philistines? 
wilt  thou  deliver  them  into  the  hand  of  Israel  ?    But  he 

7,8  answered  him  not  that  day.     And  Saul  said,  Draw  nigh 

day.  It  was  formally  embodied  in  the  later  legislation,  Deut. 
xii.  6,  23:  Lev.  xvii.  lo  IT.  For  the  underlying  motivessee  Rel.  Sent.-, 
pp.  234f..  and  the  article  'Food'  (Kennedy)  EBi.  ii.  1544. 

roll  a  great  stone :  see  on  vi.  14.  Over  and  at  the  base  of 
this  altar-stone  the  blood  was  poured  out,  a  gift  to  the  Giver  of  life. 
35.  the  same  was  the  first  altar :  implying  that  others 
followed,  which  shows  that  we  are  still  at  the  very  beginning 
of  Saul's  reign,  and — a  fact  of  much  greater  significance — that 
the  Deuteronomic  doctrine  of  the  legitimacy  of  the  one  central 
sanctuary  was  still  in  the  future.  Throughout  this  early  source, 
it  may  be  added,  Saul  appears  as  a  man  sincerely  zealous  for  the 
worship  and  honour  of  God. 

xiv.  36-46.  The  discovery  of  Jonathan's  guilt  by  means  of  the 
sacred  lot  {Urint  and  Thutnmim). 

37.  he  answered  him  not :  the  oracle  gave  no  resp9nse, 
affirmative  or  negative.     As  the  following  verse  shows,  this  silence 


I   SAMUEL  14.  39-43.     M  }^i 

hither,  all  ye  chiefs  of  the  people  :   and  know  and  see 
wherein  this  sin  hath  been  this  day.     For,  as  the  Lord  39 
liveth,  which  saveth  Israel,  though  it  be  in  Jonathan  my 
son,   he   shall  surely  die.     But  there  was  not   a  man 
among  all  the  people  that  answered  him.     Then  said  he  40 
unto  all  Israel,  Be  ye  on  one  side,  and  I  and  Jonathan 
my  son  will  be  on  the  other  side.     And  the  people  said 
unto  Saul,  Do  what  seemeth  good  unto  thee.     Therefore  41 
Saul  said  unto  the  Lord,  the  God  of  Israel,  Shew  the 
right.     And  Jonathan  and  Saul  were  taken  l^y  lot:  but 
the  people  escaped.     And  Saul  said.  Cast  lots  between  43 
me  and  Jonathan  my  son.     And  Jonathan  was  taken. 
Then  Saul  said  to  Jonathan,  Tell  me  what  thou  hast  43 
done.     And  Jonathan  told  him,  and  said,  I  did  certainly 

was  interpreted,  in  harmony  with  the  ideas  of  the  time,  as  a  sign 
of  the  Divine  displeasure.  Saul  at  once  concludes  that  this  must 
be  due  to  a  breach  of  the  food  taboo,  and  proceeds  by  another 
appeal  to  discover  the  guilty  part}'. 

41.  Shew  the  rigfht  (Heb,  iauiini)  :  neither  this  nor  the 
alternative  rendering,  '  give  a  perfect  lot '  (A.V.,  R.  V.  marg.),  can 
be  got  from  the  Hebrew  text.  Happily  the  Greek  text  has 
preserved  a  reading  which  bears  on  its  face  the  evidence  of  its 
genuineness  :  *  And  Saul  said,  O  Yahweh,  God  of  Israel,  why  hast 
thou  not  answered  thy  servant  this  daj'  ?  If  the  iniquity  be  in  me 
or  in  my  son  Jonathan,  Yahweh,  God  of  Israel,  give  Urim  ;  but  if 
thou  sayest  thus,  the  iniquitj'  is  in  thy  people  Israel,  ^/i'^Thummim. 
And  Saul  and  Jonathan  were  taken,  *  &c.  A  careless  copyist  allowed 
his  eye  to  pass  first  over  two  lines,  then  over  one  line,  between  the 
identical  words  given  in  italics  above.  The  passage  is  of  the  first 
importance  for  the  light  which  it  throws  on  the  nature  of  the 
mysterious  Urim  and  Thummim,  and  of  the  manner  of  manipulating 
the  sacred  lot.  Reference  may  here  be  made  to  the  writer's  dis- 
cussion of  the  subject  in  Hastings'  DB.  iv.  838  ff.  (article  '  Urim 
and  Thummim '). 

42.  Here  too  we  have  a  fuller  Greek  text,  and  the  presumption 
is  again  in  its  favour,  in  view  of  verse  45  :  '  And  Saul  said,  Cast 
between  me  and  Jonathan,  my  son,  and  whomsoever  Yahweh 
shall  take  he  shall  die.  And  the  people  said  to  Saul,  It  shall  not 
be  so  :  but  Saul  prevailed  over  the  people.  And  they  cast  between 
him  and  his  son  Jonathan,  and  Jonathan  was  taken.' 


io8  I   SAMUEL  14.  44-47-     MR 

taste  a  little  honey  with  the  end  of  the  rod  that  was  in 

44  mine  hand;  and,  lo,  I  must  die.  And  Saul  said,  God 
do  so  and  more  also  :  for  thou  shalt  surely  die,  Jonathan. 

45  And  the  people  said  unto  Saul,  Shall  Jonathan  die,  who 
hath  wrought  this  great  salvation  in  Israel  ?  God  forbid  : 
as  the  Lord  liveth,  there  shall  not  one  hair  of  his  head 
fall  to  the  ground  ;  for  he  hath  wrought  with  God  this 
day.     So  the  people  rescued  Jonathan,  that  he  died  not. 

46  Then  Saul  went  up  from  following  the  Philistines :  and 
the  Philistines  went  to  their  own  place. 

47  [R]  Now  when  Saul  had  taken  the  kingdom  over 
Israel,  he  fought  against  all  his  enemies  on  every  side, 
against  Moab,  and  against  the  children  of  Amnion,  and 
against   Edom,  and  against   the   kings   of  Zobah,  and 

43.  lo,  I  must  die :  this  rendering  is  unfair  to  the  heroic 
Jonathan ;  it  should  be,  '  lo,  I  am  ready  to  die.'  Cf.  Josephus' 
rhetorical  but  truthful  expansion,  Antiq,  vi.  vi.  5.  To  our  modern 
way  of  thinking,  Jonathan  was  innocent  and  Saul  doubly  blame- 
worthy, first  because  of  his  rash  vow,  and  secondly,  because  he 
insisted  with  an  oath  on  the  death  of  an  innocent  man.  But  as 
regards  the  former  charge,  we  have  seen  how  entirely  the  food 
laboo  i"eflected  the  primitive  religious  ideas  of  the  time,  and  as 
regards  the  second,  Jonathan  himself  acknowledged  that  he  had 
incurred  the  death  penalty.  It  must  be  remembered,  however, 
how  undeveloped  as  yet  was  the  inward  and  moral  conception  of 
sin.  A  man  was  often  aware  that  he  had  sinned  only  by  the 
unpleasant  consequences,  as  in  this  case  and  in  the  case  of  Balaam 
(Num.  xxii.  34).  See  further  W.  R.  Smith,  The  Prophets  of  Israel, 
lecture  iii,  *  The  Hebrew  Conception  of  Sin.' 

xiv.  47-51.  A  summary  of  SauVs  conquests  and  of  his  family 
connexions,  closing  the  first  division  of  Samuel.  The  occurrence 
in  this  section  of  certain  characteristic  expressions  of  the  Deutero- 
nomic  school  (e.g.  'all  his  enemies  on  every  side,'  Judges  ii.  14, 
I  Sam.  xii.  n,  'them  that  spoiled  them,'  Judges  ii.  14 ff.)  has  led 
to  the  conclusion,  first  suggested  by  Budde,  that  we  have  here 
a  summary  paragraph  from  the  pen  of  the  Deuteronomic  editor, 
in  which  he  formally  takes  leave  of  Saul  before  introducing  his 
successor  (see  further  Introduction,  sects,  ivf.  and  on  2  Sam.  viii). 

4*7.  the  kiniTS  of  Zobah:  see  on  2  Sam,  viii.  3. 


I   SAMUEL  14.  48—15.  I.     RMS  109 

against   the   Philistines  :    and  whithersoever   he   turned 
himself,  he   vexed   tJiem.     And   he   did   valiantly,   and  48 
smote  the  Amalekites,  and  delivered  Israel  out  of  the 
hands  of*  them  that  spoiled  them. 

Now  the  sons  of  Saul  were  Jonathan,  and  Ishvi,  and  49 
Malchi-shua  :  and  the  names  of  his  two  daughters  were 
these ;  the  name  of  the  firstborn  Merab,  and  the  name 
of  the  younger  Michal :  and  the  name  of  Saul's  wife  was  50 
Ahinoam  the  daughter  of  Ahimaaz :   and  the  name  of 
the  captain  of  his  host  was  Abner  the  son  of  Ner,  Saul's 
uncle.     And  Kish  was  the  father  of  Saul ;  and  Ner  the  51 
father  of  Abner  was  the  son  of  Abiel. 

[M]  And  there  was  sore  war  against  the  Philistines  all  the  52 
days  of  Saul :  and  when  Saul  saw  any  mighty  man,  or 
any  valiant  man,  he  took  him  unto  him. 

[S]  And  Samuel  said  unto  Saul,  The  Lord  sent  me  to  15 

he  vexed  them  :  read  with  LXX,  'he  was  victorious.' 

49.  Ishvi:  a  corruption  of  Ishyo,  a  contracted  form  of  Ish- 
Yahweh,  '  the  man  of  Yahweh,'  and  a  synonym,  therefore,  of 
Ishbaal,  see  on  2  Sam.  ii.  8. 

50.  Read  as  in  R.V.  marg.  :  '  And  Kish  the  father  of  Saul  and 
Ner  the  father  of  Abner  were  the  sons  of  Abiel '  (cf.  ix.  i). 
Abner,  therefore,  was  Saul's  cousin,  not  his  uncle  as  stated 
I  Chron.  viii.  33,  ix.  36. 

52.  The  continuation  and  close  of  the  extract  from  the  early 
narrative  of  the  introduction  of  the  monarchy,  which  opened  with 
ix.  I.  The  discrepancy  between  the  contents  of  this  verse  and  the 
unhistorical  representation  of  the  later  source  (vii.  13)  has  been 
already  commented  upon.  The  second  half  of  the  verse  seems 
designed  to  prepare  us  for  the  introduction  of  David,  xvi.  14  ft*. 

Second  Division,     i  Samuel  XV— 2  Samuel  VIII. 

Saul  and  David. 

A.   T  Sam.  xv-xx.      The  rejection  of  Saul  and  introduction  of  David. 
SauVs  jealousy  and  Us  results. 

The  second  division  of  the  Books  of  Samuel  openfs  with  another 
account  of  Saul's  rejection,  which  prepares  the  way  for  the  entry 
upon  the  scene  of  David,  the  son  of  Jesse,  who  from  this  point 


no  I   SAMUEL  15.  2,  3.     S 

anoint  thee  to  be  king  over  his  people,  over  Israel :  now 
therefore  hearken  thou  unto  the  voice  of  the  words  of 

2  the  Lord.  Thus  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts,  I  have  marked 
that  which  Amalek  did  to  Israel,  how  he  set  himself 
against  him  in  the  way,  when  he  came  up  out  of  Egypt. 

3  Now  go  and  smite  Amalek,  and  utterly  destroy  all  that 

onward  is  the  central  figure  of  the  story.  Four  subdivisions  may 
be  recognized,  the  first  embracing  chapters  xv-xx,  the  contents 
of  which  may  conveniently  be  distributed  among  the  following 
sections  :  (a)  xv.  1-35^,  (^)  xv.  35^ — xvi.  13,  (c)  xvi.  14-23,  (d)  xvii. 
I — xviii.  5,  (e)  xviii.  6-30,  (/)  xix.  i — xx.  42.  The  problems — 
literary,  historical  and  textual — presented  by  these  six  chapters 
are  among  the  most  difficult,  as  they  are  certainly  not  the  least 
interesting,  with  which  the  critical  student  is  confronted  in  the 
Books  of  Samuel. 

(a)  XV.  1-35'*.  Saul^s  second  rejection  by  Samuel. 

In  this  section  we  have  an  accoun4:  of  the  breach  between  Samuel 
and  Saul,  which  betrays  no  acquaintance  with,  and  must  be  re- 
garded as  entirely  independent  of,  the  account  already  given  in 
ch.  xiii.  The  absence  of  the  characteristic  and  readily  recognizable 
phraseolog}?^  of  the  Deuteronomic  school  shows  that  it  originally 
formed  no  part  of  the  document  we  have  termed  D,  while  its 
inculcation  of  the  prophetic  doctrine,  that  '  to  obey  is  better  than 
sacrifice'  (verse  22),  betrays  a  more  advanced  theological  stand- 
point than  the  early  historical  source,  M,  which  we  have  just  left. 
The  majority  of  scholars  are  agreed  in  assigning  it  '■  an  intermediate 
position  between  the  two  currents  of  narrative,  ix.  i,  &c.  and 
ch.  viii,  &c.  [i.  e.  between  our  M  and  D]  ;  it  presupposes  the 
former  (for  verse  i  points  back  to  x.  i,  and  a  phrase  in  verse  19^ 
appears  to  be  borrowed  from  xiv.  32),  but  approximates  in  its 
prophetic  tone  to  the  latter  '  (Driver,  LOT.^,  178  f.).  Inasmuch  as 
the  role  in  which  Samuel  appears  suggests  the  prophet  of  iii.  20,  we 
have  assigned  it  provisionally  to  the  same  source  as  chs.  i-iii,  viz.  S. 

2.  I  have  marked :  rather,  '  I  will  visit,'  i.  e.  punish. 
Amalek  was  a  nomad  people  inhabiting  the  steppes  of  the 

Sinaitic  peninsula.  The  *  theoretical  motive '  here  suggested  for  the 
expedition — the  reference  is  to  Exod.  xvii.  8  ff.  (cf.  Deut.  xxv.  17  fi".) 
— though  itself  the  product  of  later  reflection,  does  not  invalidate 
the  general  historicity  of  the  narrative.  '  There  is  no  occasion  to 
question  the  fact  that  Saul  really  chastised  the  Amalekites,  and 
that  Samuel  actually  offered  Agag,  as  the  best  of  the  spoils  of  war, 
to  Yahweh  at  Gilgal '  (Wellhausen,  Comp,  d.  Hexateuchs  ^,  p.  247). 

3.  and  utterly  destroy,  &c. :  that  is,  put  to  the  ban,  which  is 


I   SAMUEL  15.  4-9.     S  III 

they  have,  and  spare  them  not  ;  but  slay  both  man  and 
woman,  infant  and  suckling,  ox  and  sheep,  camel  and  ass. 

And  Saul  summoned  the  people,  and  numbered  them  4 
in  Telaim,    two   hundred   thousand   footmen,    and   ten 
thousand  men  of  Judah.     And  Saul  came  to  the  city  of  5 
Amalek,  and  laid  wait  in  the  valley.     And   Saul   said  6 
unto  the  Kenites,  Go,  depart,  get  you  down  from  among 
the  Amalekites,  lest  I  destroy  you  with   them  :  for  ye 
shewed  kindness  to  all  the  children  of  Israel,  when  they 
came  up  out  of  Egypt.     So  the  Kenites  departed  from 
among  the  Amalekites.     And  Saul  smote  the  Amalekites,  7 
from  Havilah  as  thou  goest  to  Shur,  that  is  before  Egypt. 
And  he  took  Agag  the  king  of  the  Amalekites  alive,  and  8 
utterly  destroyed  all  the  people  with  the  edge  of  the 
sword.     But  Saul  and  the  people  spared  Agag,  and  the  9 


the  meaning  of  the  marginal  note  'devote'  (to  Yahweh).  The 
institution  of  the  ban  [herem)  is  frequently  referred  to  in  early 
Hebrew  history.  Two  degrees  of  severity  are  found — the  one 
involving,  as  in  the  case  before  us,  the  destruction  of  every  living 
creature  together  with  every  vestige  of  property,  the  other  in- 
volving only  the  death  of  the  human  beings,  the  cattle  and  the  spoil 
in  thiscase  becoming  the  propertyof  thevictors.  For  the  underlying 
ideas,  see  article  'Ban'  (Bennett),  EBi.,  i.  468ff.,  and  Kautzsch 
in  Hastings' Z)5.,extravol., 619 f.  'Thereligiouselement,'  according 
to  the  latter  scholar,  '  is  found  in  the  complete  renunciation  of  anj' 
profit  from  the  victory,  and  this  renunciation  is  an  expression  of 
gratitude  for  the  fact  that  the  war-God  has  delivered  the  enemy, 
who  is  His  enemy  also,  into  the  hands  of  the  conqueror.' 

4.  Telaim:  rather  Telam,  as  xxvii.  8  (LXX),  otherwise  Telem, 
Joshua  XV.  24,  in  the  south  of  Judah. 

6.  The  Kenites  were  also  a  nomad  tribe  of  the  peninsula,  with 
whom  Moses  was  connected  by  marriage  (Judges  i,  16,  where, 
according  to  the  true  text,  they  are  mentioned  as  dwelling  among 
the  Amalekites). 

7.  from  Havilah,  &c.  :  the  original  is  obscure,  perhaps  '  from 
Telam  until  thou  comest  to  Shur  (Exod.  xv.  22),  eastwards  from 
Egypt.'     Cf.  xxvii.  8. 

9.  The  obscurity  is  here  still  greater,  but  the  R.V.  seems  to 
give  the  sense  intended.     Only  the  ban  of  the  second  degree  was 


112  I   SAMUEL  15.  10-16.     S 

best  of  the  sheep,  and  of  the  oxen,  and  of  the  fatlings, 
and  the  lambs,  and  all  that  was  good,  and  would  not 
utterly  destroy  them ;  but  every  thing  that  was  vile  and 
refuse,  that  they  destroyed  utterly. 

10  Then  came  the  word  of  the  Lord  unto  Samuel,  saying, 

11  It  repenteth  me  that  I  have  set  up  Saul  to  be  king :  for 
he  is  turned  back  from  following  me,  and  hath  not 
performed  my  commandments.     And  Samuel  was  wroth  ; 

1 2  and  he  cried  unto  the  Lord  all  night.  And  Samuel  rose 
early  to  meet  Saul  in  the  morning ;  and  it  was  told 
Samuel,  saying,  Saul  came  to  Carmel,  and,  behold,  he 
set  him  up  a  monument,  and  is  gone  about,  and  passed 

13  on,  and  gone  down  to  Gilgal.  And  Samuel  came  to 
Saul :  and  Saul  said  unto  him,  Blessed  be  thou  of  the 
Lord  :    I   have   performed   the   commandment   of  the 

14  Lord.  And  Samuel  said.  What  meaneth  then  this 
bleating  of  the  sheep  in  mine  ears,  and  the  lowing  of  the 

15  oxen  which  I  hear?  And  Saul  said.  They  have  brought 
them  from  the  Amalekites :  for  the  people  spared  the 
best  of  the  sheep  and  of  the  oxen,  to  sacrifice  unto  the 
Lord  thy  God ;  and  the  rest  we  have  utterly  destroyed. 

16  Then  Samuel  said  unto  Saul,  Stay,  and  I  will  tell  thee 
what  the  Lord  hath  said  to  me  this  night.     And  he  said 

carried  out,  and  even  that  not  thoroughly,  for  Agag  was  spared. 
Saul's  motive  for  this  clemency  is  not  recorded. 

XV.  10-23.  Samttel's  rebuke  and  Saul's  excuse. 

12.  Carmel:  a  place  seven  or  eight  miles  south  of  Hebron, 
which  figures  prominently  in  the  history  of  David  (xxv.  sff.). 
The  moniunent  (Hebrew '  hand,'  as  2  Sam.  xviii.  18)  was  in 
honour  of  the  victory  over  Amalek.  The  scene  of  Saul's  second 
rejection,  as  of  the  first,  is  laid  at  Gilgal  in  the  Jordan  Valley. 

15.  Convicted  of  falsehood,  Saul  proceeds  to  lay  the  blame 
upon  the  people,  at  the  same  time  pointing  out  that  Yahweh  will 
r<?ceive  His  share  all  the  same,  only  by  way  of  a  formal  sacrifice. 
In  this  way  hypocrisy  is  added  to  falsehood. 


I    SAMUEL  15.  18-23.     S  113 

unto  him,  Say  un.     Aiid  Samuel  said,  Though  ihou  wast 
Httle  in  thine  own  sight,  wast  thou  not  made  the  head  of 
the   tribes    of  Israel  ?     And  the   Lord  anointed    thee 
king  over  Israel ;  and  the  Lord  sent  thee  on  a  journey,  18 
and    said.    Go    and    utterly   destroy    the    sinners    the 
Amalekites,    and    fight    against    them    until    they    be 
consumed.      AV'herefore  then  didst   thou  not   obey  the  19 
voice  of  the  Lord,  but  didst  fly  upon  the  spoil,  and  didst 
that  which  was  evil  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord  ?   And  Saul  20 
said  unto  Samuel,  Yea,  I  have  obeyed  the  voice  of  the 
Lord,  and  have  gone  the  way  which  the  Lord  sent  me, 
and  have  brought  iVgag  the  king  of  Amalek,  and  have 
utterly  destroyed  the  xVmalekites.     But  the  people  took  21 
of  the  spoil,  sheep  and  oxen,  the  chief  of  the  devoted 
things,  to  sacrifice  unto  the  Lord  thy  God  in  Gilgal. 
And  Samuel  said,  Hath  the  Lord  as  great  delight  in  .'2 
burnt  offerings  and  sacrifices,  as  in  obeying  the  voice  of 
the  Lord  ?  Behold,  to  obey  is  better  than  sacrifice,  and 
to  hearken  than  the  fat  of  rams.  For  rebellion  is  as  the  sin  2?, 


20  f.  Saul  repeats  his  former  plea,  attempting  *  to  unite  obedience 
in  the  general  with  a  trifle  of  disobedience  in  the  particulars ' 
(Wellhausen). 

22.  Samuel's  reply  is  couched  in  the  rhythmical  form  peculiar 
to  Hebrew  poetry  and  the  higher  prophetic  style,  and  consists  of 
four  distichs  with  the  usual  parallelism.  In  the  great  words  '  to 
obey  is  better  than  sacrifice'  the  author  of  this  chapter  brings  to 
a  luminous  point  the  whole  ethical  teaching  of  the  Hebrew 
prophets  from  Amos  downwards  (see  Amos  v.  21-24  '•  Isa.  i.  10-17  J 
Mic.  vi.  6-8  and — the  nearest  in  expression — Hos.  vi.  6  and 
Jer.  vii.  22  f.).  The  O.  T.  has  no  word  for  '  duty  ' ;  its  moral  ideal 
is  embodied  in  the  words  'as  the  Lord  commanded.'  Samuel's 
'  obedience,'  accordingly,  is  but  another  aspect  of  Hosea's  '  mercy  ' 
— '  I  desire  mercy  {hesed,  loving  deeds),  not  sacrifice,'  a  golden 
truth  twice  re-affirmed  by  our  Lord  Himself  (Matt.  ix.  13,  xii.  7). 
'  Not  all  the  blood  of  beasts,  On  Jewish  altars  slain  '  can  take  the 
place  of  clean  hands  and  a  pure  heart,  and  the  love  that  fulfils 
itself  in  the  service  of  our  fellow  men. 

23.  the  sin  of  witchcraft:    rather,   as   maigin,   'divination,' 


114  I   SAMUEL  15.  24-28.     S 

of  witchcraft,  and  stubbornness  is  as  idolatry  and  teraphim. 
Because  thou  hast  rejected  the  word  of  the  Lord,  he 

24  hath  also  rejected  thee  from  being  king.  And  Saul  said 
unto  Samuel,  I  have  sinned  :  for  I  have  transgressed  the 
commandment  of  the  Lord,  and  thy  words  :  because  I 

25  feared  the  people,  and  obeyed  their  voice.  Now  there- 
fore, I  pray  thee,  pardon  my  sin,  and  turn  again  with  me, 

26  that  I  may  worship  the  Lord.  And  Samuel  said  unto 
Saul,  I  will  not  return  with  thee  :  for  thou  hast  rejected 
the  word  of  the  Lord,  and  the  Lord  hath  rejected  thee 

27  from  being  king  over  Israel.  And  as  Samuel  turned 
about  to  go  away,  he  laid  hold  upon  the  skirt  of  his  robe, 

28  and  it  rent.  And  Samuel  said  unto  him,  The  Lord  hath 
rent  the  kingdom  of  Israel  from  thee  this  day,  and  hath 
given  it  to  a  neighbour  of  thine,  that  is  better  than  thou. 

a  more  general  term.  The  rendering  'arrogance'  or  'presumption' 
(BDB,  Heb.  Lex.)  is  more  appropriate  to  Saul's  sin  than  stubborn- 
ness. It  is  doubtful,  further,  if  the  word  in  the  original  can  bear 
the  meaning  idolatry.  The  parallelism  requires  a  genitive  con- 
struction, and  one  Greek  translator  read  :  '  the  iniquity  of  idols.' 
The  couplet,  therefore,  will  run  : 

Rebellion  is  (as)  the  sin  of  divination 
Arrogance  is  (as)  the  iniquity  of  teraphim. 

The  teraphim,  it  is  now  agreed,  were  images  of  some  sort,  some- 
times, if  not  always,  in  human  form,  or  at  least  with  a  human 
head,  as  appears  from  xix.  13  ff.  They  are  associated  with 
divination,  as  here,  in  2  Kings  xxiii.  24,  Ezek.  xxi.  21,  Zech.  x.  2, 
and  with  the  ephod  in  Judges  xvii  f.,  Hos.  iii.  4.  By  the  more 
spiritual  teachers  of  Israel,  the  teraphim  were  held  to  be  incom- 
patible with  the  religion  of  Yahweh  (Gen.  xxxi.  19,  34,  xxxv.  2,  4). 
This  stanza,  like  the  foregoing,  presupposes  the  teaching  of  the 
eighth-century  prophets,  and  requires  for  the  chapter  a  later  date 
than  that  of  the  document  M  (see  introductory  note,  p.  no). 

24  ff.  Saul  confesses  his  sin  and  begs  to  be  forgiven,  but  in  vain. 
'  The  author  means  to  teach  that  the  most  sincere  repentance  is 
of  no  avail  when  God  has  made  his  final  decision  '  (H.  P.  Smith). 
Saul's  rejection  is  indicated  first  in  express  terms  (verse  26)  and 
then  symbolically  (verse  28).  -     ■ 

28.  a  ueigrhbour  of  thine,  that  is  better  than  thon :  '  even  to 


I    SAMUEL  15.  29-35.     S  115 

And  also  the  Strength  of  Israel  will  not  lie  nor  repent :  ay 
for  he  is  not  a  man,  that  he  should  repent.     Then  he  30 
said,  I  have  sinned :  yet  honour  me  now,  I  pray  thee, 
before  the  elders  of  my  people,  and  before  Israel,  and 
turn  again  with  me,  that  I  may  worship  the  Lord  thy 
God.     So  Samuel  turned  again  after   Saul;   and  Saul  31 
worshipped  the  Lord. 

Then  said  Samuel,  Bring  ye  hither  to  me  Agag  the  32 
king  of  the  Amalekites.  And  Agag  came  unto  him 
delicately.  And  Agag  said,  Surely  the  bitterness  of  death 
is  past.  And  Samuel  said,  As  thy  sword  hath  made  3,^ 
women  childless,  so  shall  thy  mother  be  childless  among 
women.  And  Samuel  hewed  Agag  in  pieces  before  the 
Lord  in  Gilgal. 

Then  Samuel  went  to  Ramah  ;  and  Saul  went  up  to  34 
his  house  to  Gibeah  of  Saul.  And  Samuel  came  no  35 
more  to  see  Saul  until  the  day  of  his  death  ;  for  Samuel 


David'  (xxviii.  17,  where  see  notes).  Here  we  have  another 
of  the  frequent  '  omens '  to  be  found  in  this  book  (see  p.  64).  The 
incident  is  therefore  to  be  distinguished  fromi  the  premeditated 
rending  of  Ahijah's  garment,  i  Kings  xi.  30. 

29.  the  Strengrth  of  Israel :  the  precise  meaning  is  uncertain. 
The  margin  gives  '  Victory,'  or  '  GIor3\' 

32  S.  Samuel  executes  the  ban  upon  Agag- 

delicately :  the  word  so  rendered  has  not  yet  been  satis- 
factorily explained,  and  may  be  corrupt.  It  is  almost  certain  that 
neither  voluptuousness  nor  cheerfulness  (R.V.  marg.)  is  intended. 
The  Greek  has  'trembling.* 

33.  before  the  LOBD  in  Oilgul:  i.  e.  at  the  altar  of  Yahweh, 
to  whom  everything  included  in  the  ban  was  '  devoted.' 

34.  The  statement  here  made  that  Samuel  and  Saul  never  met 
again  in  life,  when  compared  with  xix.  23  f.,  is  one  of  the  many 
indications  of  the  diversity  of  the  sources  from  which  the  material 
of  the  Books  of  Samuel  has  been  derived.  In  his  grief  over  Saul's 
rejection,  Samuel  recalls  the  type  of  religious  zealot — by  no  means 
rare  in  the  Church — who  unites  the  tenderest  of  hearts  with  the 
sternest  of  creeds.  The  latter  half  of  the  verse  is  better  taken 
with  the  chapter  following. 

I  2 


ii6  I   SAMUEL  16.  1,2.     S 

mourned  for  Saul :  and  the  Lord  repented  that  he  had 
made  Saul  king  over  Israel. 

6  And  the  Lord  said  unto  Samuel,  How  long  wilt  thou 
mourn  for  Saul,  seeing  I  have  rejected  him  from  being 
king  over  Israel  ?  fill  thine  horn  with  oil,  and  go,  I  will 
send  thee  to  Jesse  the  Beth-lehemite  :  for  I  have  provided 

2  me  a  king  among  his  sons.  And  Samuel  said,  How  can 
I  go  ?    if  Saul  hear  it,  he  will  kill  me.     And  the  Lord 

(b)  XV.  35^ — xvi,  13.     David  secretly  anointed  by  Samuel. 
In  chapters  xvi  and  xvii,  as  they  now  appear  in  our  Hebrew 
Bibles,  David  is  introduced  to  the  reader  in  no  fewer  than  three 
passages,  xvi.  i  ff.,  xvi.  14  ff.,  and  xvii.  12  ff.     That  these  passages 
are  mutually  independent  is  now  generally   admitted.     The  re- 
markable contradiction  between  xvi.    21   ff.  and  xvii,  55  ff.  has 
long  been  the  subject  of  comment  and  of  many  futile  attempts  at 
harmonizing.     It  is  further  noteworthy  that  neither  of  these  sec- 
tions of  the   nari'ative   betrays  the  slightest  acquaintance  with 
the  contents  of  xvi.  i  ff.  (see  especially  on  xvii.  28),  nor  does  David 
anywhere  in  the  sequel  betray  the  least  consciousness  of  the  high 
destiny  marked  out  for  him  by  this  scene  at  Beth-lehem   (note 
xviii.  18,  and  the  fact  that  Saul  alone  in  these  chapters  is  called 
'the  Lord's  anointed',!.     The  more  recent  critics  have  all  but 
unanimously  put  down  the  section  before  us  as  a  late  addition  to 
the  original  Book  of  Samuel,  derived  from  such  a  collection  of 
edifying  expansions  of  the  latter  as  that  cited  2  Chron,  xxiv.  27. 
*  the  Midrash  of  the  book  of  the  kings '   (for  which  see  Driver, 
LOT.^y  529).    But  the  easy  transition  from  ch.  xv  does  not  suggest 
a   mere   interpolator,    and,    moreover,  we    naturally   expect   the 
author  of  chapter  xv  to  furnish  us  with  something  more  explicit 
and  detailed  regarding  Saul's  destined  successor  than  the  vague 
reference  in  verse  28.     We  prefer  therefore,  with  H.  P.  Smith 
(cf.  the  arguments  of  N.  Peters,  Beitrdge  zu  ,  .  .  Samuel,  70  ff.), 
to  regard  xvi.  1-13  as  a  further  extract  from  the  same  source  as 
the  preceding  chapter,  that  is,  from  the  prophetic  biography  of 
Samuel  (S).     It  is  true  that  the  portrait  of  Samuel  in  the  two 
narratives  is  not  entirely  consistent  (see  on  verse  2),  but  if,  as 
we  believe,  the  author  derived  his  materials  from  the  popular 
traditions  of  his  time,  perfect  consistency  is  not  to  be  expected. 
The   section    properly   begins   with   xv.   35'' ;    '  And    the    Lord 
repented,'  &c. 

8.  Samuel's  hesitation,  as  has  just  been  admitted,  is  scarcely 
what  we  should  have  expected  of  the  fearless  spokesman  of 
Yahweh  in  xv.  14  flf. 


i.  I   SAMUEL  16.  .VI  r.     S  117 

said,  Take  an  heifer  with  thee,  and  say,  I  am  come  to 
sacrifice  to  the  Lord.     And  call  Jesse  to  the  sacrifice,  ;, 
and  I  will  shew  thee  what  thou  shalt  do :  and  thou  shalt 
anoint  unto  me  him  whom  I   name  unto  thee.     And  4 
Samuel  did  that  which  the  Lord  spake,  and  came  to 
Beth-lehem.     And  the  elders  of  the  city  came  to  meet 
him  trembling,  and  said,  Comest  thou  peaceably  ?    And  5 
he  said.  Peaceably  :   I  am  come  to  sacrifice  unto  the 
Lord  :   sanctify  yourselves,  and  come  with  me  to  the 
sacrifice.      And  he  sanctified  Jesse  and  his  sons,  and 
called  them  to  the  sacrifice.     And  it  came  to  pass,  when  6 
they  were  come,   that  he  looked  on   Eliab,   and  said, 
Surely   the  Lord's  anointed  is   before   him.     But   the  7 
LoRi^said  unto  Samuel,  Look  not  on  his  countenance, 
or  on  the  height  of  his  stature  ;  because  I  have  rejected 
him  :    for  f/ie  Lord  seetk  not  as  man  seeth ;   for  man 
looketh    on    the    outward   appearance,    but   the    Lord 
looketh   on  the   heart.     Then   Jesse   called   A^binadab,  S 
and   made   him    pass    before   Samuel.      And   he    said, 
Neither  hath  the  Lord  chosen  this.     Then  Jesse  made  9 
Shammah  to  pass  by.     And  he  said,  Neither  hath  the 
Lord  chosen  this.     And  Jesse  made  seven  of  his  sons  10 
to  pass  before  Samuel.     And  Samuel  said  unto  Jesse, 
The  Lord  hath  not  chosen  these.      And  Samuel  said  tt 
unto  Jesse,  Are  here  all  thy  children?     And  he  said. 
There   remaineth   yet   the   youngest,   and,   behold,   he 


5.  sanctify  yourselves  :  a  frequent  expression  for  preparation 
for  worship  by  means  c>i  ablutions  and  abstinence  from  whatever 
might  render  one  ceremonially  unclean  (Exod.  xix.  ro,  14  f., 
and  often). 

7.  the  LORD  seeth:  as  the  italics  show,  these  words  have 
been  supplied  (from  the  LXX)  ;  their  omission  in  the  Heb.  text 
is  purely  accidental.  The  thought  of  God  as  the  Searcher  of 
hearts  is  a  favourite  with  Jeremiah  (xi.  20.  xvii.  to.  xx.  12^,  and 
is  the  theme  of  Ps.  cxxxix. 


ii8  I   SAMUEL  16.  12-15.     SM 

keepeth  the  sheep.  And  Samuel  said  unto  Jesse,  Send 
and  fetch  him  :  for  we  will  not  sit  down  till  he  come 

12  hither.  And  he  sent,  and  brought  him  in.  Now  he  was 
ruddy,  and  withal  of  a  beautiful  countenance,  and  goodly 
to  look  upon.     And  the  Lord  said,  Arise,  anoint  him : 

^3  for  this  is  he.  Then  Samuel  took  the  horn  of  oil,  and 
anointed  him  in  the  midst  of  his  brethren :  and  the 
spirit  of  the  Lord  came  mightily  upon  David  from  that 
day  forward.     So  Samuel  rose  up,  and  went  to  Ramah. 

14      [M]  Now  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  had  departed  from  Saul, 
T5  and  an  evil  spirit  from  the  Lord  troubled  him.     And 

11.  we  will  not  sit  down:  i.  e.  to  the  common  meal  which 
followed  the  sacrifice  (i.  ^f.,  ix.  22  ff.), 

12.  he  was  ruddy:  only  of  David  (also  xvii.  42)  and  Esau 
(Gen.  XXV.  25%  and  generally  taken  as  referring  to  the  colour  of 
the  skin.  Possibly,  however,  it  refers  to  the  colour  of  the  hair. 
Klostermann,  indeed,  would  add  this  noun  to  the  text.  It  is 
interesting  to  think  of  David  as  the  red-haired  'darling  of  the 
songs  of  Israel '  (2  Sam.  xxiii.  i),  or,  as  Browning  has  it  in  his 
Saul,  'God's  child  with  His  dew,  On  thy  gracious  gold  hair.' 

and  withal :  a  very  dubious  rendering.  Read  here  and  xvii. 
42,  with  Graetz  and  most  moderns,  by  inserting  a  letter;  *a  stripling 
(so  xvii.  56;  with  beautiful  eyes  (see  marg.)  and  of  a  comely 
person.' 

13.  For  the  endowment  of  the  spirit  as  conveyed  by  the  act  of 
anointing,  see  on  x.  i.  Here  we  have  the  first  mention  of  David, 
a  name  peculiar,  in  the  O.  T.,  to  Israel's  national  hero.  The 
etymology  of  the  word  is  uncertain.  It  may  either  be  akin  to 
Dodo  or  Dodai  (2  Sam.  xxiii.  24),  and  the  fuller  form  Dodavahu 
(2  Chron.  xx.  37,  R.  V.),  both  probably  signifying  'Yahweh  is 
a  friend '  or  *  is  beloved,'  or  it  may  have  underlying  it,  as  is 
suggested  by  its  unique  occurrence,  the  name  of  some  obscure 
Canaanite  deity  (cf.  the  names  Dudu,  in  the  Amarna  tablets,  and 
Dido  of  Carthage).  The  best  recent  study  of  David  is  perhaps 
the  article  by  H.  A.  White  in  Hastings'  Dictiotiary  of  the  Bible. 

(c)  xvi.  1 4-23.     David  brought  to  court  as  the  king^s  minstrel. 

Of  the  two  extant  accounts  of  David's  introduction  to  Saul  (cf. 
xvii.  55  flf.),  it  is  admitted  on  all  hands  that  the  account  here  given 
is  the  older,  and  the  one  to  which  alone  an  historical  value  attaches. 
There  need  be  no  hesitation  in  assigning  it  to  the  early  source,  M. 

14.  an  evil  spirit  from  the  LORD  :   This  expression,  like  so 


I   SAMUEL  16.  16-1S.     M  119 

Saul's  servants  said  unto  him.  Behold  now,  an  evil  spirit 
from  God  troubleth  thee.     Let  our  lord  now  command  r6 
thy  servants,  which  are  before  thee,  to  seek  out  a  man 
who  is  a  cunning  player  on  the  harp  :  and  it  shall  come 
to  pass,  when  the  evil  spirit  from  God  is  upon  thee,  that 
he  shall  play  with  his  hand,  and  thou  shalt  be  well. 
And  Saul  said  unto  his  servants.  Provide  me  now  a  man  17 
that  can  play  well,  and  bring  him  to  me.    Then  answered  18 
one  of  the  young  men,  and  said,  Behold,  I  have  seen 
a  son  of  Jesse  the  Beth-lehemite,   that  is  cunning  in 
playing,  and  a  mighty  man  of  valour,  and  a  man  of  war, 
and  prudent  in  speech,  and  a  comely  person,  and  the 

many  others  in  this  ancient  document,  must  be  interpreted  in  the 
light  of  the  ideas  of  its  time.  All  antiquity  was  at  one  in 
ascribing  every  form  of  disease,  and  mind-sickness  in  particular, 
to  the  agency  of  evil  spirits.  As  the  presence  of  such  a  spirit 
was  impossible  while  Saul  was  still  under  the  influence  of  the 
spirit  of  Yahweh  (x.  10),  it  was  evident  to  the  thought  of  the  time 
that  this  Divine  influence  had  been  withdrawn.  And  yet,  since 
Yahweh  was  supreme  in  the  realm  of  spirits,  the  evil  spirit  could 
only  come  from  Him  and  by  His  permission.  Saul  is  usually 
believed  to  have  suffered  from  morbid  melancholia,  A  recent 
authority  (Professor  MacaHster  in  Hastings'  DB. ,  iii.  327),  however, 
informs  us  that  '  his  case  is  a  typical  one  of  recurrent  paroxysmal 
mania  rather  than  of  melancholia.'  The  influence  of  music  on 
such  morbid  natures  was  and  is  universally  recognized. 

18.  pmdent  (better,  as  marg.,  'skilful')  in  speecli :  this  must 
either  refer  to  the  recitative  which  accompanied  the  music,  or 
signify  'of  a  ready  wit,'  one  of  the  necessary  qualifications  of  an 
Eastern  musician  (see  Lane,  Arabian  Society  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
176).  David  is  here  described  as  at  once  a  'cunning'  or  expert 
harpist  and  a  skilful  improvisor  or  poet.  This  enumeration  of  his 
qualifications  for  the  post  of  the  king's  minstrel  is  now  cut  in  two 
by  the  irrelevant  description  of  David  as  a  mig-hty  man  of  valour 
and  a  man  of  war.  That  they  are  an  intrusion,  suggested 
probably  by  xiv.  52^,  is  further  shown  by  the  well-attested  youth  of 
David  at  this  date,  (see  Introduction,  sect,  ix),  and  by  his  employ- 
ment now  'with  the  sheep'  of  Jesse  (verse  19),  and  afterwards  as 
Saul's  armour-bearer  'verse  21"^,  a  post  entirely  beneath  the  dignity 
of  a  'man  of  war'  (see  on  xvii.  33,  and  cf.  xiv.  13).  The  bearing  of 
all  this  on  the  literary  analysis  will  appear  presently. 


I20  I    SAMUEL  16.  19—17  I.     M 

19  Lord  is  with  him.  Wherefore  Saul  sent  messengers 
unto  Jesse,  and  said,  Send  me  David  thy  son,  which  is 

20  with  the  sheep.  And  Jesse  took  an  ass  lade?i  with  bread, 
and  a  bottle  of  wine,  and  a  kid,  and  sent  them  by  David 

31  his  son  unto  Saul.  And  David  came  to  Saul,  and  stood 
before  him :  and  he  loved  him  greatly ;  and  he  became 

22  his  armourbearer.  And  Saul  sent  to  Jesse,  saying,  Let 
David,  I  pray  thee,  stand  before  me ;  for  he  hath  found 

23  favour  in  my  sight.  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  evil 
spirit  from  God  was  upon  Saul,  that  David  took  the  harp, 
and  played  with  his  hand :  so  Saul  was  refreshed,  and 
was  well,  and  the  evil  spirit  departed  from  him. 

17      Now  the  Philistines  gathered  together  their  armies  to 

20.  an  ass  laden  with  bread:  an  attempt,  as  the  italics  show, 
to  make  sense  of  a  corrupt  text ;  read  :  '  ten  loaves  of  bread  ' 
(cf.  xvii.  17). 

(d)  xvii.  I — xviii.  5.     David  and  the  Philistine  champion. 

By  a  strange  irony  the  chapter  of  i  Samuel  which  contains 
perhaps  the  most  popular  incident  in  the  book  presents  the  most 
complicated  of  its  literary  problems  to  the  scholar.  For  in 
addition  to  the  ordinary  questions  of  the  higher  criticism,  which 
deals  with  the  literary  sources  and  their  historical  value,  we  have 
here  to  reckon  with  a  serious  problem  in  the  domain  of  the  lower, 
or  textual,  criticism.  Of  the  sixty-three  verses  contained  in  the 
received  text  of  this  section,  more  than  thirty  are  wanting  in  the 
original  text  of  the  oldest  Greek  Version  (Codex  B),  viz.  xvii. 
12-31,  41,  50,  55-58,  xviii.  1-5.  The  question  is,  which  of  the 
two  forms,  the  longer  Hebrew,  or  the  shorter  Greek  form, 
represents  the  text  as  it  left  the  hands  of  the  compiler  of  Samuel  ? 
At  first  sight  the  fact  that,  in  the  longer  text,  David  appears  as  an 
absolute  stranger  to  Saul  (xvii.  55  fF.),  when  in  reality  he  had 
been  for  some  time  a  member  of  his  court  (xvi.  20  ff.),  naturally 
suggests  that  the  parts  above  enumerated  have  been  deliberately 
omitted  by  the  Greek  translators  for  harmonistic  purposes.  Such, 
indeed,  is  the  opinion  of  many  of  our  foremost  critics,  Wellhausen, 
Budde,  Cheyne,  Driver,  and  others.  On  the  other  hand,  not 
a  few  scholars  of  equal  eminence  maintain  that  the  verses  in 
question  are  later  additions  to  the  original  text  of  Samuel  from  an 
independent  account  of  the  Goliath  episode,  and  that  the  part  that 
remains  when  these  are  excised  is  complete  in  itself.     This  view, 


I   SAMUEL  17.  2,3.     M  121 

battle,  and  ihey  were  gathered  together  at  Socoh,  which 
beiongeth  to  Judah,  and  pitched  between  Socoh  and 
Azekah,  in  Ephes-dammim.  And  Saul  and  the  men  of  2 
Israel  were  gathered  together,  and  pitched  in  the  vale  of 
Elah,  and  set  the  battle  in  array  against  the  Phihstines. 
And  the  Philistines  stood  on  the  mountain  on  the  one  3 
side,   and  Israel  stood  on  the  mountain  on  the  other 

it  is  further  maintained,  is  Gonfirmed  by  the  imperfect  connexion 
between  verses  11  and  la  and  verses  31  and  32  in  our  present 
text  (see  notes  below\  The  case  for  the  originality  of  the 
shorter  text  has  been  ably  argued  by  the  late  Robertson  Smith  in 
his  OTJC?,  120  ff.,  431  ff.,  who  has  been  followed  by  Stade, 
Cornill,  H.  P.  Smith,  Lohr,  Nowack,  Kirkpatrick  {Cambridge 
Bible),  and  Peters.  Their  position  seems  to  the  present  writer  to 
afford  the  best  solution  of  an  admittedly  difficult  problem. 

It  remains  now  to  inquire  how  this  result  will  affect  the 
literary  analysis.  The  additions,  as  we  must  regard  them,  of  the 
present  text  at  once  fall  apart  as  later  accretions  (Z\  Tlie 
remaining  half  of  the  section,  xvii.  i-ii,  32-40,  42-54,  recent 
critics  almost  without  exception  assign  to  a  source  distinct  from. 
and  younger  than,  the  early  source  (our  M)  to  which  xvi.  14-23  is 
now  unanimously  attributed.  The  main  and  continually  recurring 
argument  in  support  of  this  attribution  is  that  in  xvii.  i  ff.  David 
appears  as  a  youth,  whereas  in  xvi.  14  If.  he  is  represented  as 
a  man  of  mature  years  and  of  wide  repute  as  a  man  of  war,  a  position 
which  has  been  shown  above  to  be  entirely  due  to  a  later  erroneous 
insertion  in  xvi.  18.  Hebrew  tradition,  we  maintain,  is  consistent 
in  representing  David  as  a  youth  of  eighteen  or  twenty  (see 
Introduction,  sect,  ix)  at  his  introduction  to  the  court  of  Saul. 
Robertson  Smith  alone  ventured  to  regard  xvii.  i  If.  as  the 
continuation  of  xvi,  14-23  {OTJC.K  435,.  An  attempt  will  be 
made  in  the  notes  to  follow  the  hint  thrown  out  by  this  acute 
critic,  and  to  meet  the  objections  that  may  reasonably  be  taken  to 
this  attribution. 

1  f.  For  details  of  the  topography  of  this  chapter,  see  the 
dictionaries,  G.  A.  Smith,  Hist.  Geog.,  226  ff.,  and  especially  W. 
Miller,  The  Least  of  all  Lands,  ch.  v,  with  map  of  the  battlefield. 
The  latter  lay  in  tlic  valley  of  Xilali,  the  modern  IVadi  es-Stint. 
On  its  southern  edge  lay  Socoli,  the  modern  Slaitveikch ;  the  name 
Socoh  has  recently  been  found  on  jar-handles  in  this  neighbourhood. 
The  other  sites  have  not  been  identified.  Saul,  as  we  shall  see. 
was  naturally  accompanied  to  the  field  of  battle  b}'^  his  youthful 
armourbearer. 


122  I   SAMUEL  17.  4,  5.     M 

4  side  :  and  there  was  a  valley  between  them.  And  there 
went  out  a  champion  out  of  the  camp  of  the  Philistines, 
named  Goliath,  of  Gath,  whose  height  was  six  cubits  and 

5  a  span.  And  he  had  an  helmet  of  brass  upon  his  head, 
and  he  was  clad  with  a  coat  of  mail ;  and  the  weight  of 

4.  Goliath,  of  Gath  :  modern  critics  are  practically  unanimous 
in  regarding  the  famous  encounter  related  in  the  sequel  as 
unhistorical.  One  of  the  main  arguments — that  it  formed  no  part 
of  the  earliest  extant  source — has  been  already  dealt  with.  More 
serious  is  the  difficulty  raised  by  the  statement  from  an  un- 
doubtedly ancient  document  that  the  slayer  of  Goliath  was 
a  Beth-lehemite,  Elhanan,  the  son  of  Jair  (2  Sam.  xxi.  19,  where 
see  note  for  true  text),  in  the  reign  of  David.  By  the  recognized 
principles  of  historical  criticism,  this  early  authority  is  the  more 
worthy  of  credit,  assigning  as  it  does  to  an  obscure  champion 
a  feat  which,  as  can  readily  be  believed,  a  later  tradition  loved  to 
assign  to  its  favourite  hero,  David.  But  we  are  convinced  that 
the  real  relation  between  these  mutually  inconsistent  statements 
has  not  hitherto  been  satisfactorily  explained.  An  examination 
of  the  original  and  shorter  form  of  the  narrative  before  us  discloses 
the  remarkable  fact  that  David's  opponent  is  throughout  termed 
'the  Philistine'  or  'this  Philistine,'  with  the  single  exception  of 
verse  4.  We  are  driven  to  the  conclusion  that  in  the  source  M, 
which  we  believe  the  compiler  to  be  following  here,  the  Philistine 
champion  was  nameless.  The  identification  with  Goliath  of  the 
later  Elhanan  episode  was  rendered  all  the  more  easy  by  the 
common  description  of  their  respective  spears  by  means  of  a 
popular  comparison  to  a  weaver's  leash-rod  (see  on  verse  7,  and 
cf.  2  Sam.  xxi.  19).  The  historicity  of  the  achievement  by  which 
David  gained  his  early  renown  and  aroused  the  jealousy  of  Saul 
(xviii.  6fF.)  is  thus  vindicated.  The  passage  last  referred  to  is 
unanimously  assigned  to  the  same  source  as  xvi.  14-23,  and  the 
critics,  by  regarding  xvii.  i  ff.  as  a  legendary  extract  from  a  later 
source,  are  obliged  to  postulate  in  its  place  some  other  feat  of 
arms  sufficient  to  account  for  this  sudden  access  of  royal  jealousy. 
But  it  is  difficult  to  see  the  compiler's  reason  for  omitting  such 
an  achievement  had  he  found  it  in  his  source. 

six  cubits  and  a  span:  about  nine  feet  six  inches.  The 
span  was  half  the  cubit,  which  was  somewhat  under  eighteen 
inches  (Hastings  '  DB.,  iv.  909). 

5.  a  coat  Of  mail :  the  original  implies  that  it  was  composed  of 
scales  of  bronze.  Its  weight,  5,000  shekels  of  bronze,  was  prob- 
ably about  220  lb.  avoirdupois,  according  to  the  standard  termed 
by  the  present  writer  '  the  S3'rian  or  320  grain  unit '  (see  '  Weights 
and  Measures,'  ibid,,  iv.  904ft'.). 


I    SAMUEL  17.6-1:,.     MZ  123 

the  coat  was  five  thousand  shekels  of  brass.     And  he  6 
had  greaves  of  brass  upon  his  legs,  and  a  javelin  of  brass 
between  his  shoulders.     And  the  staft'  of  his  spear  was  7 
like  a  weaver's  beam  ;  and  his  spear's  head  weighed  six 
hundred  shekels  of  iron  :    and   his  shield-bearer  went 
before  him.     And  he  stood  and  cried  unto  the  armies  of  8 
Israel,  and  said  unto  them,  Why  are  ye  come  out  to  set 
your  battle  in  array  ?    am  not  I  a  Philistine,  and  ye 
servants  to  Saul  ?   choose  you  a  man  for  you,  and  let 
him  come  down  to  me.     If  he  be  able  to  fight  with  me,  9 
and   kill  me,   then   will   we  be  your  servants :    but   if 
I  prevail  against  him,  and  kill  him,  then  shall  ye  be  our 
servants,  and  serve  us.     And  the  Philistine  said,  I  defy  10 
the  armies  of  Israel  this  day  ;  give  me  a  man,  that  we 
may  fight  together.     And  when  Saul  and  all  Israel  heard  1 1 
those  words  of  the  Philistine,  they  were  dismayed,  and 
greatly  afraid. 

[Z]  Now  David  was  the  son  of  that  Ephrathite  of  12 
Beth-lehem-judah,  whose  name  was  Jesse ;  and  he  had 
eight  sons :  and  the  man  was  an  old  man  in  the  days  of 
Saul,   stricken  in  years   among   men.      And  the  three  13 

7.  like  a  weaver's  "beam  :  rather,  '  a  weaver's  shaft '  or  leash- 
rod,  for  which  the  curious  student  is  referred  to  the  special  in- 
vestigation of  this  obscure  term  in  the  article  'Weaving'  (Kennedj'}, 
EBi.,  iv.  5285. 

11.  At  this  point,  according  to  the  original  text,  David,  Saul's 
armourbearer,  steps  forward  and  accepts  the  challenge  (verse  32). 

xvii.  12-31.  Another  account  of  David's  appearance  on  the  sce)ie. 
The  reasons  for  regarding  these  verses  as  forming  no  part  of  the 
original  text  of  the  compiler  of  Samuel  have  been  given  above. 

12.  This  verse  has  all  the  appearance  of  having  once  been  the 
commencement  of  an  independent  narrative.  W.  R.  Smith  con- 
jectures that  it  read  originally :  •  And  there  was  a  man,  an 
Ephrathite  of  Beth-lehem-judah,  whose  name  was  Jesse'  (cf.  i.  i, 
ix.   I). 


124  I   SAMUEL  17.  14-22.     Z 

eldest  sons  of  Jesse  had  gone  after  Saul  to  the  battle : 
and  the  names  of  his  three  sons  that  went  to  the  battle 
were  Eliab  the  firstborn,  and  next  unto  him  Abinadab, 

14  and  the  third  Shammah.     And  David  was  the  youngest : 

15  and  the  three  eldest  followed  Saul.  Now  David  went  to 
and  fro  from  Saul  to  feed  his  father's  sheep  at  Beth-lehem. 

16  And  the  Philistine  drew  near  morning  and  evening,  and 
presented  himself  forty  days. 

17  And  Jesse  said  unto  David  his  son,  Take  now  for  thy 
brethren  an  ephah  of  this  parched  corn,  and  these  ten 
loaves,    and   carry   thetn   quickly   to   the   camp   to   thy 

18  brethren;  and  bring  these  ten  cheeses  unto  the  captain 
of  their  thousand,  and  look  how  thy  brethren  fare,  and 

19  take  their  pledge.  Now  Saul,  and  they,  and  all  the  men 
of  Israel,   were  in  the  vale  of  Elah,   fighting  with  the 

20  Philistines.  And  David  rose  up  early  in  the  morning, 
and  left  the  sheep  with  a  keeper,  and  took,  and  went,  as 
Jesse  had  commanded  him ;  and  he  came  to  the  place 
of  the  wagons,  as  the  host  which  was  going  forth  to  the 

21  fight  shouted  for  the  battle.     And  Israel  and  the  Philis- 

22  tines  put  the  battle  in  array,  army  against  army.  And 
David  left  his  baggage  in  the  hand  of  the  keeper  of  the 
baggage,  and  ran  to  the  army,  and  came  and  saluted  his 


15.  We  have  here  clearly  the  hand  of  a  harmonizer,  who 
sought  to  explain  the  absence  of  Saul's  armourbearer  from  the 
camp  by  suggesting  that  David  divided  his  time  between  the 
court  and  his  father's  farm. 

16.  A  legendary  heightening  of  the  Philistine's  truculence  of 
which  the  older  narrative  knows  nothing,  and  which,  moreover, 
here  appears  too  early  in  this  narrative. 

18.  captain  of  their  thousand:  see  on  viii.  12. 
take  their  pledg'e  :   some  token  which  David  could  show  to 
their  father  as  proof  that  they  were  alive  and  well. 

20.  the  place  of  the  wag'ons :  also  xxvi.  5,  7;  the  original 
is  probably  a  military  term  for  the  camp.  R. V.  marg.  gives  '  barri- 
cade '  ;  others  '  entrenchment'  (BDB.,  Heb,  Lex.'). 


I   SAMUEL  17.  23-29.     Z  125 

brethren.     And  as  he  talked  with  them,  behold,  there  23 
came  up  the  champion,  the  Philistine  of  Gath,  Goliath 
by  name,  out  of  the  ranks  of  the  Philistines,  and  spake 
according  to  the  same  words  :  and  David  heard  them. 
And  all  the  men  of  Israel,  when  they  saw  the  man,  fled  24 
from  him,  and  were  sore  afraid.     And  the  men  of  Israel  25 
said,  Have  ye  seen  this  man  that  is  come  up  ?    surely  to 
defy  Israel  is  he  come  up :  and  it  shall  be,  that  the  man 
who  killeth  him,   the  king  will  enrich  him  with  great 
riches,  and  will  give  him  his  daughter,  and  make  his 
father's  house  free  in  Israel.     And  David  spake  to  the  26 
men  that  stood  by  him,  saying,  What  shall  be  done  to 
the  man  that  killeth  this  Philistine,  and  taketh  away  the 
reproach  from  Israel  ?     for  who  is  this  uncircumcised 
Philistine,  that  he  should  defy  the  armies  of  the  living 
God?    And  the  people  answered  him  after  this  manner,  27 
saying,  So  shall  it  be  done  to  the  man  that  killeth  him. 
And  Eliab  his  eldest  brother  heard  when  he  spake  unto  28 
the  men  ;  and  Eliab's  anger  was  kindled  against  David, 
and  he  said,  Why  art  thou  come  down  ?  and  with  whom 
hast  thou  left  those  few  sheep  in  the  wilderness  ?  I  know 
thy  pride,  and  the  naughtiness  of  thine  heart ;  for  thou 
art  come  down  that  thou  mightest  see  the  battle.     And  29 

23.  spake  according^  to  the  saxue  words :  the  terms  of  the 
challenge  have  been  omitted,  as  they  were  already  given  in  8  ff. 
(from  M\ 

25.  free  in  Israel:  i.e.  from  all  dues  in  kind  or  money,  from 
unpaid  labour  (see  on  2  Sam.  xx.  24),  &c. 

26.  the  living-  God :  this  Divine  name  is  supposed  to  belong  to 
the  Deutcronomic  age  (Deut.  v.  25;  Jer.  x.  10,  xxiii.  36).  Cf. 
verse  36  below. 

28.  Z  know  thy  pride,  and  the  nauerhtiness  of  thine  heart : 
the  writer  of  these  words  cannot  have  been  acquainted  with  the 
scene  depicted  in  xvi.  12  f.,  the  solemn  anointing  of  David  '  in  the 
midst  of  his  brethren.'  No  Hebrew,  least  of  all  a  brother,  could 
thus  have  spoken  to  'the  Lord's  anointed.' 


126  I   SAMUEL  17.  30-35.     ZM 

David  said,  What  have  I  now  done  ?  Is  there  not  a  cause  ? 

30  And  he  turned  away  from  him  toward  another,  and  spake 
after  the  same  manner :  and  the  people  answered  him 

31  again  after  the  former  manner.  And  when  the  words 
were  heard  which  David  spake,    they  rehearsed  them 

32  before  Saul;  and  he  sent  for  him.  [M]  And  David 
said  to  Saul,  Let  no  man's  heart  fail  because  of  him ; 

33  thy  servant  will  go  and  fight  with  this  Philistine.  And 
Saul  said  to  David,  Thou  art  not  able  to  go  against  this 
Philistine  to  fight  with  him :  for  thou  art  but  a  youth, 

34  and  he  a  man  of  war  from  his  youth.  And  David  said 
unto  Saul,  Thy  servant  kept  his  father's  sheep ;  and  when 
there  came  a  Hon,  or  a  bear,  and  took  a  lamb  out  of  the 

35  flock,  I  went  out  after  him,  and  smote  him,  and  delivered 
it  out  of  his  mouth :   and  when  he  arose  against  me, 

31.  and  he  sent  for  him:  a  paraphrase  rather  than  a  transla- 
tion of  the  original  '  and  he  took  him.'  Lucian's  recension  of  the 
later  Greek  text  has  'and  they  took  him  and  brought  him  to  Saul,' 
which  at  least  gives  sense.  But  the  fact  is  that  the  interpolated 
narrative  here  breaks  off  abruptly,  and  we  do  not  know  how  the 
verse  really  ended. 

xvii.  32-54.  David  accepts  the  challenge  and  slays  the  champion. 

The  original  narrative,  which  was  dropped  at  verse  11,  is  now 
resumed.  David,  who  was  in  the  camp  from  the  first,  where 
indeed  he  had  a  tent  assigned  to  him  (verse  54),  hears  the  Philis- 
tine's challenge  (verses  8ff.)  and  at  once — note  the  contrast  in 
verse  16 — accepts  it.  The  close  connexion  between  verses  11 
and  32  is  self-evident. 

33.  thou  art  hut  a  youth :  the  assumed  discrepancy  between 
this  statement  and  the  data  of  xvi.  i8,  of  which  so  much  has  been 
made,  was  there  shown  to  be  illusory.  *  An  armourbearer  was  not  a 
full  warrior,butasortofpageor  apprentice  in  arms'  {OTJC?^  43if0' 

34.  David  had  proved  his  courage  in  another  school.  Common 
sense  and  grammar  alike  require  the  rendering  of  R.  V.  as  com- 
pared with  A.  V.  We  have  not  the  record  of  a  single  adventure 
but  of  many.  A  still  closer  reproduction  of  the  text  would  run 
thus  :  *when  a  lion — or  (it  might  be)  a  bear^used  to  come  out, 
and  take  a  lamb,'  &c.  For  the  hardsliips  of  a  shepherd's  life,  see 
Gen.  xxxi.  39  ff.,  and  cf.  Amos  iii.  12. 


I   SAMUEL  17.  36-41.     M  127 

I  caught  him  by  his  beard,  and  smote  him,  and  slew  him. 
Thy  servant  smote  both  the  Hon  and  the  bear :  and  this  36 
uncircumcised  PhiHstine  shall  be  as  one  of  them,  seeing 
he  hath  defied  the  armies  of  the  living  God.    And  David  37 
said,  The  Lord  that  delivered  me  out  of  the  paw  of  the 
lion,  and  out  of  the  paw  of  the  bear,  he  will  dehver  me 
out  of  the  hand  of  this  Philistine.     And  Saul  said  unto 
David,  Go,  and  the  Lord  shall  be  with  thee.     And  Saul  38 
clad  David  with  his  apparel,  and  he  put  an  helmet  of 
brass  upon  his  head,  and  he  clad  him  with  a  coat  of 
mail.     And  David  girded  his  sword  upon  his  apparel,  39 
and  he  assayed  to  go ;  for  he  had  not  proved  it.     And 
David  said  unto  Saul,  I  cannot  go  with  these  ;  for  I  have 
not  proved  them.     And  David  put  them  off  him.     And  4° 
he  took  his  staff  in  his  hand,  and  chose  him  five  smooth 
stones  out  of  the  brook,  and  put  them  in  the  shepherd's 
bag  which  he  had,  even  in  his  scrip ;  and  his  sling  was 
in  his  hand  :  and  he  drew  near  to  the  Philistine.     And  41 

36.  The  last  clause  is  probably  an  addition  from  verse  26  (see 
there),  the  verse  originally  ending  with  'one  of  them.'  The  LXX 
text  is  still  fuller. 

37.  The  author  now  begins  to  lead  up  to  the  religious  lesson 
of  the  story.  Saul  wishes  to  give  the  youthful  champion  the  best 
equipment  in  all  the  camp,  his  own.  But  this  only  serves  to  bring 
into  stronger  relief  the  intention  of  Him  'who  saveth  not  with 
sword  and  spear '  (verse  47). 

38.  And  Saul  clad  David  with  his  apparel:  rather,  as  A.V., 
*  with  his  armour,'  as  may  be  seen  from  xviii.  4,  where  the  various 
items  are  enumerated.  Cf.  2  Sam.  xx.  8,  Joab's  *  apparel  of 
war.'  The  last  clause,  accordingly,  is  unnecessary  and  is  wanting 
in  LXX. 

39.  he  assayed  to  go:  i.  e.  he  tried  unsuccessfully  to  go,  for 
the  weight  of  the  unaccustomed  armour  impeded  his  movements. 

40.  his  scrip :  a  better  order  would  be  :  '  and  put  them  in  his 
scrip  (the  shepherd's  bag  which  he  had),' the  words  within  paren- 
theses being  a  gloss  on  the  unique  word  {yalkut)  rendered 
'scrip.' 

41.  With  verse  50,  no  part  of  the  true  text  (see  above).     The 


128  I   SAMUEL  17.  42-48.     M 

the  Philistine  came  on  and  drew  near  unto  David ;  and 

42  the  man  that  bare  the  shield  went  before  him.  And 
when  the  Philistine  looked  about,  and  saw  David,  he 
disdained  him  :  for  he  was  but  a  youth,  and  ruddy,  and 

43  withal  of  a  fair  countenance.  And  the  Philistine  said 
unto  David,  Am  I  a  dog,  that  thou  comest  to  me  with 
staves  ?    And  the  Philistine  cursed  David  by  his  gods. 

44  And  the  Philistine  said  to  David,  Come  to  me,  and 
I  will  give  thy  flesh  unto  the  fowls  of  the  air,  and  to  the 

45  beasts  of  the  field.  Then  said  David  to  the  Philistine, 
Thou  comest  to  me  with  a  sword^  and  with  a  spear,  and 
with  a  javehn  :  but  I  come  to  thee  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord  of  hosts,  the  God  of  the  armies  of  Israel,  which 

46  thou  hast  defied.  This  day  will  the  Lord  deliver  thee 
into  mine  hand ;  and  I  will  smite  thee,  and  take  thine 
head  from  off  thee  ;  and  I  will  give  the  carcases  of  the 
host  of  the  Philistines  this  day  unto  the  fowls  of  the  air, 
and  to  the  wild  beasts  of  the  earth ;  that  all  the  earth 

47  may  know  that  there  is  a  God  in  Israel :  and  that  all 
this  assembly  may  know  that  the  Lord  saveth  not  with 
sword  and  spear :  for  the  battle  is  the  Lord's,  and  he 

48  will  give  you  into  our  hand.  And  it  came  to  pass,  when 
the  Philistine  arose,  and  came  and  drew  nigh  to  meet 


next  verse  should  end  with  'youth,'  the  rest  being  generally  re- 
garded as  an  irrelevant  expansion  derived  from  xvi.  12. 

45.  the  God  of  the  armies  of  Israel:  for  the  importance  of 
this  definition  of  Yahweh  Sebaoth  (the  Lord  of  hosts)  for  the 
original  significance  of  this  Divine  title,  see  on  i.  3.  Its  occurrence 
here  seems  to  tell  in  favour  of  the  derivation  of  the  main  stock  of 
this  chapter  from  the  early  source  M.  From  the  time  of  Amos 
onwards  Yahweh  Sebaoth  had  another  and  higher  significance,  as 
explained  above  (p.  37). 

46  f.  Cheyne  has  rightly  seen  that  these  two  verses  have  been 
added  by  a  '  later  writer  of  the  post-Deuteronomic  period  to  bring 
the  lesson  of  the  talc  into  clearer  view.  .  .  Nowhere  else  outside 
of  the  N.T.  does  the  message  of  encouragement  to  the  humble  and 


I   SAMUEL  17.  49-54.     M  129 

David,  that  David  hastened,  and  ran  toward  the  army  to 
meet  the  Phihstine.     And  David  put  his  hand  in  his  bag,  49 
and  took  thence  a  stone,  and  slang  it,  and  smote  the 
PhiHstine  in  his  forehead  ;  and  the  stone  sank  into  his 
forehead,  and  he  fell  upon  his  face  to  the  earth.     So  50 
David  prevailed  over  the  Philistine  with  a  sling  and  with 
a  stone,  and  smote  the  Philistine,  and  slew  him;  but 
there  was  no  sword  in  the  hand  of  David.     Then  David  51 
ran,  and  stood  over  the  Philistine,  and  took  his  sword, 
and  drew  it  out  of  the  sheath  thereof,  and  slew  him,  and 
cut  off  his  head  therewith.     And  when  the  Philistines 
saw  that  their  champion  was  dead,  they  fled.     And  the  52 
men  of  Israel  and  of  Judah  arose,   and  shouted,  and 
pursued  the  Philistines,  until  thou  comest  to  Gai,  and  to 
the  gates  of  Ekron.     And  the  wounded  of  the  Philistines 
fell  down  by  the  way  to  Shaaraim,  even  unto  Gath,  and 
unto  Ekron.     And  the  children  of  Israel  returned  from  53 
chasing    after   the    Philistines,   and  they    spoiled    their 
camp.    And  David  took  the  head  of  the  Philistine,  and  54 
brought  it  to  Jerusalem  ;   but  he  put  his  armour  in  his 
tent. 

exhortation  to  the  weak  in  faith  receive  so  affecting,  so  inspiring 
an  expression'  (see  for  details  his  article  '  Goliath,' £'iB/.  ii.  1755, 
and  Aids  to  the  devout  Study  o/Cn'ticisui,  ii6ff.). 

52.  Gai:  a  slip  for  Gath.  for  which  and  for  Ekron  see  on  v. 
8ff.  The  rest  of  the  verse  is  corrupt.  Nowack  reads  :  'And  the 
wounded  of  the  Philistines  fell  down  even  in  the  gateways ' 
(note  R.  V,  marg.).  What  follows  appears  to  be  a  gloss  from  the 
preceding  sentence. 

54.  and  brongrlit  It  to  Jerusalem:  a  curious  anachronism, 
since  David's  future  capital  was  still  in  the  hands  of  the  Jebusites. 
Cheyne  conjectures  'to  Saul.' 

lie  put  his  armour  in  his  tent :  a  sentence  which  is  fatal  to 
the  unity  of  the  chapter,  but  which  affords  a  striking  confirmation 
of  the  analysis  here  advocated,  which  sees  in  xvii.  i  ff.  the  natural 
sequence  of  xvi.  14-23  fcf.  onsaff.,  p.  136).  Goliath's  sword  is 
found  somewhat  later  at  Nob  (xxi.  9). 

K 


I30  I    SAMUEL  17.  55—18.  5.     Z 

55  [Z]  And  when  Saul  saw  David  go  forth  against  the 
Philistine,  he  said  unto  Abner,  the  captain  of  the  host, 
Abner,  whose  son  is  this  youth?   And  Abner  said,  As 

56  thy  soul  liveth,  O  king,  I  cannot  tell.    And  the  king  said, 

57  Inquire  thou  whose  son  the  stripling  is.  And  as  David 
returned  from  the  slaughter  of  the  Philistine,  Abner  took 
him,  and  brought  him  before  Saul  with  the  head  of  the 

58  Philistine  in  his  hand.  And  Saul  said  to  him,  Whose  son 
art  thou,  thou  young  man  ?  And  David  answered,  I  am  the 

18  son  of  thy  servant  Jesse  the  Beth-lehemite.  And  it  came 
to  pass,  when  he  had  made  an  end  of  speaking  unto  Saul, 
that  the  soul  of  Jonathan  was  knit  with  the  soul  of  David, 

2  and  Jonathan  loved  him  as  his  own  soul.     And  Saul 
took  him  that  day,  and  would  let  him  go  no  more  home 

3  to  his  father's  house.     Then  Jonathan  and  David  made 
a  covenant,  because   he   loved   him  as   his   own  soul. 

4  And  Jonathan  stripped  himself  of  the  robe  that  was  upon 
him,  and  gave  it  to  David,  and  his  apparel,  even  to  his 

5  sword,  and  to  his  bow^  and  to  his  girdle.     And  David 

xvii.  55 — xviii.  5.  David's  {second)  introduction  to  Saul  and  his 
advancement  at  conrt.  A  further  extract  from  the  parallel  narrative 
beginning  verse  12,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  no  part  of  the  original 
text,  according  to  which  David  is  already  ^  persona  grata  at  court 
(xvi.  21).  No  harmonistic  ingenuity  has  yet  succeeded  in  recon- 
ciling the  two  accounts  of  David's  introduction.  It  is  satisfactory 
to  know  that  perhaps  the  most  striking  discrepancy  as  to  a  matter 
of  fact  to  be  found  in  the  historical  books  cannot  be  laid  at  the 
door  of  the  original  compiler  of  Samuel. 

3.  Jonathan  and  David  enter  into  a  covenant  of  blood-brother- 
hood, for  which  see  W.  R.  Smith,  Rel.  Sem.'^,  314  f.,  and  especially 
Trumbull,  The  Blood  Covenant,  passim.  In  xx.  8  it  is  called  *  a 
covenant  of  Yahweh.'  The  mutual  affection  of  these  two,  so  dis- 
interested on  Jonathan's  part,  and  so  nobly  requited  on  David's, 
has  become  for  all  time  the  type  of  the  generous  and  enduring 
friendships  of  youth. 

4.  his  apparel:  rather,  'his  armour,'  see  on  xvii,  38.  The 
commentators  recall  the  exchange  of  arms  between  Glaucus  and 
Diomede  in  the  Iliad  (vi.  230  flf.). 


I    SAMUEL  18.  6,  7.     ZM  131 

went  out  whithersoever  Saul  sent  him,  and  behaved  him- 
self wisely  :  and  Saul  set  him  over  the  men  of  war,  and 
it  was  good  in  the  sight  of  all  the  people,  and  also  in  the 
sight  of  Saul's  servants. 

[M]  And  it  came  to  pass  as  they  came,  when  David  6 
returned  from  the  slaughter  of  the  Philistine,  that  the 
women  came  out  of  all  the  cities  of  Israel,  singing  and 
dancing,  to  meet  king  Saul,  with  timbrels,  with  joy,  and 
with  instruments  of  music.    And  the  women  sang  one  to  7 
another  in  their  play,  and  said, 

Saul  hath  slain  his  thousands, 

And  David  his  ten  thousands. 

5.  The  arrangement  of  the  clauses  in  Lucian'stext  is  preferable: 
'  And  Saul  set  him  over  the  men  of  war,  and  David  wrent  out  and 
came  in  (a  common  idiom  for  military  duty,  xxix.  6,  and  verses  13, 
16  below),  and  whithersoever  Saul  sent  him  he  behaved  himself 
wisely  ;  and  it  was  good,'  &c. 

behaved  himself  wisely  :  rather,  'was  successful';  the 
original  '  expresses  not  success  alone,  but  success  as  the  result 
of  wise  provision  '  (Driver). 

(^)  xviii.  6-30.  Saul  becomes  jealous  of  David's  popularity^  but  gives 
hint  his  daughter  Michal  in  marriage. 

The  relation  of  the  incidents  in  this  section  to  each  other  and 
CO  the  foregoing  is  difficult  to  trace.  But  the  difficulties  are  in 
great  measure  removed  if,  as  in  the  previous  chapter,  we  accept 
as  the  original  text  of  Samuel  the  shorter  form  given  by  codex  B 
of  the  LXX,  which  omits  the  following  verses  and  parts  of  verses  : 
xviii.  6*  1  to  '  Philistine  '),  the  first  and  last  clauses  of  8,  10,  11,  12 
(all  after  '  David'),  17-19,  21^  29%  30.  By  the  excision  of  these 
accretions  a  much  more  intelligible  and  psychologically  consistent 
narrative  is  obtained,  which  may  be  assigned  in  the  main  to  M. 
The  sign  Z  (later  addition)  has  onlj'  been  inserted  before  the 
larger  accretions,  verses  10  f.,  17  flf.  (see  above). 

6  f.  The  text  of  B  opens  thus :  'And  the  dancingwomen  came  out,' 
&c.  At  first  sight  the  poetical  distich  which  follows — cited  again  in 
xxi.  II,  xxix.  5 — appears  inappropriate,  and  would  be  more  in  place 
at  a  somewhat  later  stage  of  David's  career,  e.  g.  after  xix.  8. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  couplet  may  have  been  a  popular  mode  of 
comparing  the  merits  of  rival  leaders,  and  as  such  employed  as 
stated  in  the  expanded  form  of  6"'. 

K  2 


132  I   SAMUEL  18.  8-15.     MZM 

8  And  Saul  was  very  wroth,  and  this  saying  displeased 
him ;  and  he  said,  They  have  ascribed  unto  David  ten 
thousands,  and  to  me  they  have  ascribed  but  thousands : 

9  and  what  can  he  have  more  but  the  kingdom  ?  And  Saul 
eyed  David  from  that  day  and  forward. 

10  [Z]  And  it  came  to  pass  on  the  morrow,  that  an  evil 
spirit  from  God  came  mightily  upon  Saul,  and  he  pro- 
phesied in  the  midst  of  the  house:  and  David  played 
with  his  hand,  as  he  did  day  by  day :  and  Saul  had  his 

11  spear  in  his  hand.  And  Saul  cast  the  spear ;  for  he  said, 
I  will  smite  David  even  to  the  wall.    And  David  avoided 

12  out  of  his  presence  twice.  [M]  And  Saul  was  afraid  of 
David,  because  the  Lord  was  with  him,  and  was  departed 

13  from  Saul.  Therefore  Saul  removed  him  from  him,  and 
made  him  his  captain  over  a  thousand;  and  he  went  out  and 

14  came  in  before  the  people.     And  David  behaved  himself 

15  wisely  in  all  his  ways ;  and  the  Lord  was  with  him.  And 
when  Saul  saw  that  he  behaved  himself  very  wisely,  he 

8.  The  premature  hint  as  to  the  roj'al  succession  in  the  last 
clause  belongs  to  the  inserted  matter. 

9.  Saul  eyed  David :  looked  on  him  with  envy  and  suspicion. 
10  f.  These  intrusive  verses  place  the  climax  of  Saul's  jealousy 

too  early  (see  on  verse  12). 

and  he  prophesied :  rather,  '  he  raved/  was  in  a  state  of 
frenzy ;  cf.  x.  5. 

12  f.  And  Saul  was  afraid  of  David,  and  removed  him  from 
him  :  so  the  true  text  (B).  The  psychologically  accurate  picture, 
given  by  the  shorter  text,  of  the  gradual  growth  of  Saul's  enmity 
to  David  has  often  been  noted.  Here  Saul  is  '  afraid  of  David,' 
in  verse  15  he  'stands  in  awe  of  him,'  while  in  verse  29  he  is 
'yet  more  afraid,'  and  ultimately  gives  orders  for  his  assassination 
(xix.  i),  if  this  be  the  continuation  of  xviii.  29. 

went  out  and  came  in :  see  on  verse  5.  This  promotion  to 
the  command  of  *  a  thousand '  (for  which  see  on  viii.  12)  is  more 
credible  than  the  parallel  statement  of  verse  5,  which  seems  to 
represent  David  as  already  commander-in-chief.  Saul's  motive 
was  doubtless  the  same  that  we  find  expressed  in  verses  17,  21, 
and  25. 


I    SAMUEL  18.  16-21.     MZM  133 

stood  in  awe  of  him.     But  all  Israel  and  Judah  loved  16 
David ;  for  he  went  out  and  came  in  before  them. 

[Z]  And  Saul  said  to  David,  Behold,  my  elder  daughter  17 
Merab,  her  will  I  give  thee  to  wife  :  only  be  thou  valiant 
for  me,  and  fight  the  Lord's  battles.     For  Saul  said,  Let 
not  mine  hand  be  upon  him,  but  let  the  hand  of  the 
Philistines  be  upon  him.     And  David  said  unto  Saul,  18 
Who  am  I,  and  what  is  my  life,  or  my  father's  family  in 
Israel,  that  I  should  be  son  in  law  to  the  king?   But  it  19 
came  to  pass  at  the  time  when  Merab  Saul's  daughter 
should  have  been  given  to  David,  that  she  was  given 
unto  x\driel  the  Meholathite  to  wife.     [M]  And  Michal  20 
Saul's  daughter  loved  David  :  and  they  told  Saul,  and  the 
thing  pleased  him.     And  Saul  said,  I  will  give  him  her,  21 
that  she  may  be  a  snare  to  him,  and  that  the  hand  of  the 

17-19.  A  perplexing  passage,  which,  however,  is  no  part  of 
the  original  text,  and  may  be  set  down  as  an  unhislorical  variant 
of  verses  20  ff. 

17.  fight  the  IiOBD'S  battles  (also  xxv.  28) :  the  battles  of 
His  people  are  Yahweh's  battles,  hence  the  title  of  the  poetical 
work  cited  Num.  xxi.  14.  'the  book  of  the  battles  of  Yahweh.' 
Down  to  the  reign  of  David,  Yahweh,  as  visibly  represented  by 
the  ark,  frequently— at  first,  no  doubt,  invariably — took  the  field 
with  the  consecrated  warriors. 

18.  what  is  my  life:  render,  as  R.V.  marg.,^who  are  my 
kinsfolk.'  a  rare  word  denoting  'a  group  of  families  united  by 
blood-ties,'  as  explained  by  the  following  gloss  '  my  father's  clan.' 
Cf.  2  Sam.  vii.  18. 

19.  Adriel  the  Meholathite:  a  native  of  Abel-meholah,  in 
the  Jordan  valley  near  Beth-shan,  the  native  place  of  Elisha 
(i  Kings  xix.  16).  The  tragic  fate  of  the  five  sons  of  this  union 
is  related  a  Sam.  xxi.  Bff.,  where  for  '■  Michal'  read,  with  LXX, 
'  Merab.' 

xviii.  20-29.  Michal  is  given  in  marriage  to  David. 

21.  that  she  may  be  a  snare  to  him:  a  metaphor  taken  from 
fowling,  with  no  moral  connotation  here.  The  meaning  of  the 
reference  to  the  Philistines,  couched  in  the  same  terms  as  the 
doublet  in  verse  17,  is  disclosed  in  verse  25.  The  latter  part  of 
the  verse,  wanting  in  B,  is  a  mere  harmonistic  addition. 


134  I   SAMUEL  18.  22-28.     M 

Philistines  may  be  against  him.     Wherefore  Saul  said  to 
David;  Thou  shalt  this  day  be  my  son  in  law  a  second 

22  time.  And  Saul  commanded  his  servants,  saying,  Com- 
mune with  David  secretly,  and  say,  Behold,  the  king 
hath  delight  in  thee,  and  all  his  servants  love  thee :  now 

23  therefore  be  the  king's  son  in  law.  And  Saul's  servants 
spake  those  words  in  the  ears  of  David.  And  David  said; 
Seemeth  it  to  you  a  light  thing  to  be  the  king's  son  in  law, 

24  seeing  that  I  am  a  poor  man,  and  lightly  esteemed?  And 
the  servants  of  Saul  told  him,  saying.  On  this  manner 

25  spake  David.  And  Saul  said,  Thus  shall  ye  say  to  David, 
The  king  desireth  not  any  dowry,  but  an  hundred  fore- 
skins of  the  Philistines,  to  be  avenged  of  the  king's 
enemies.     Now  Saul  thought  to  make  David  fall  by  the 

26  hand  of  the  Philistines.  And  when  his  servants  told 
David  these  words,  it  pleased  David  well  to  be  the  king's 

27  son  in  law.  And  the  days  were  not  expired;  and  David 
arose  and  went,  he  and  his  men,  and  slew  of  the  Philis- 
tines two  hundred  men ;  and  David  brought  their  fore- 
skins, and  they  gave  them  in  full  tale  to  the  king,  that  he 
might  be  the  king's  son  in  law.     And  Saul  gave  him 

28  Michal  his  daughter  to  wife.     And  Saul  saw  and  knew 

23.  I  am  a  poor  man :  and  therefore  unable  to  pay  the  large 
dowry  which  would  be  expected  for  a  princess. 

25.  dowry  (Heb.  mdhar) :  the  price  in  money,  in  cattle,  or,  as 
here  and  in  the  case  of  Jacob,  in  special  service  rendered,  which 
according  to  ancient  custom  was  paid  to  the  bride's  father  as 
compensation  for  the  loss  to  the  family  and  tribe  of  a  valuable 
member.  For  a  dowry  (R.  V.  *  portion  ')  in  the  modern  sense, 
see  I  Kings  ix.  16.  The  last  clause  discloses  Saul's  real  motive  in 
selecting  this  particular  form  of  dowry,  which,  though  repellent 
to  modern  sensibilities,  had  its  analogies  in  contemporary  Egyptian 
custom. 

27.  David  spontaneously  doubles  the  stipulated  dowr}'.  The 
Greek  text,  however,  reads  'one  hundred,'  which  accords  with 
David's  own  statement,  2  Sam.  iii.  14. 

28  f.  The  more  concise  and  intelligible  text  of  codex  B  is  here 


I   SAMUEL  18.  29—10.  I.     MZT  135 

that   the   Lord   was   with    David ;    and   Michal   Saul's 
daughter  loved  him.     And  Saul  was  yet  the  more  afraid  29 
of  David  ;  [Z]  and  Saul  was  David's  enemy  continually. 

Then  the  princes  of  the  Philistines  went  forth :  and  it  30 
came  to  pass,  as  often  as  they  went  forth,  that  David 
behaved  himself  more  wisely  than  all  the  servants  of 
Saul  ;  so  that  his  name  was  much  set  by. 

[T]  And  Saul  spake  to  Jonathan  his  son,  and  to  all  19 

general!}'  preferred  :  '  And  Saul  saw  that  the  Lord  was  with 
David,  and  that  all  Israel  loved  him,  and  he  was  3'et  more  afraid 
of  David.'     All  that  follows,  to  the  end  of  the  chapter,  is  extraneous 

matter. 

(/)  xix.  I — XX.  42.  Said' svicreasing  enmity  compels  David  to  flee 
ili;  court.     Jonathan  s  loyalty  to  David. 

The  difficulties,  literary  and  historical,  raised  by  this  section 
arCj  frankly,  insuperable.  The  text  also  is  in  considerable  dis- 
order, although  the  Greek  version  now  resumes  its  normal  relation 
to  the  Hebrew.  If  Jonathan  was  personally  urged  by  his  father 
to  compass  David's  death  (xix.  1),  how  could  he  be  ignorant  of 
Saul's  design  (cf.  xix.  2  with  xx.  2)?  Notwithstanding  Saul's 
determined  attempt  to  seize  David,  who  barely  escapes  with  his 
life  (xix.  II  ff.),  in  the  following  chapter  the  latter  is  still  at  court 
devising  means  to  ascertain  Saul's  feelings  towards  him  (xx.  5  If.}. 
Further,  in  xix.  18-24,  we  are  told  of  the  origin  of  a  popular 
saying,  of  which  our  oldest  source  has  already  given  another 
and  more  credible  explanation  (x.  10  fF.).  This  meeting  of  Samuel 
and  Saul,  moreover,  contradicts  the  previous  statement,  xv.  35*. 
These  are  but  a  few  of  the  difficulties  which  have  made  this  period 
of  David's  life  the  despair  of  historical  critics,  to  whose  works  the 
student  is  referred  for  further  details. 

On  one  point  only  is  there  general  agreement,  namely  that  the 
passage  xix.  18-24  is  late  and  unhistorical.  There  is  considerable 
agreement,  also,"  that  the  main  stream  of  the  narrative  in  ch.  xx 
belongs  to  the  early  source  M  (Budde's  J),  with  various  parts  of 
which  it  shows  linguistic  points  of  contact  (see  notes).  Be3'ond 
this  all  is  conjecture.  If,  however,  we  adopt  ch.  xx  as,  in  the 
main,  M's  version  of  this  crisis  in  David's  life,  the  story  of  Michal's 
stratagem  (xix.  11-17)  will  have  come  from  another  source. 
Verses  1-7  may  also  be  a  parallel  version  of  Jonathan's  part  as 
mediator  in  ch.  xx.  Without  a  doubt,  such  topHcs  as  Saul's 
jealousy  on   the   one  hand,    Jonathan's   friendship  and   Michal's 


136  I   SAMUEL  19.  2-6.     T 

2  his  servants,  that  they  should  slay  David.  But  Jonathan 
Saul's  son  delighted  much  in  David.  And  Jonathan  told 
David,  saying,  Saul  my  father  seeketh  to  slay  thee  :  now 
therefore,  I  pray  thee,  take  heed  to  thyself  in  the  morning, 

3  and  abide  in  a  secret  place,  and  hide  thyself :  and  I  will 
go  out  and  stand  beside  my  father  in  the  field  where 
thou  art,  and  I  will  commune  with  my  father  of  thee ; 

4  and  if  I  see  aught,  I  will  tell  thee.  And  Jonathan  spake 
good  of  David  unto  Saul  his  father,  and  said  unto  him, 
Let  not  the  king  sin  against  his  servant,  against  David ; 
because  he  hath  not  sinned  against  thee,  and  because 

5  his  works  have  been  to  thee- ward  very  good  :  for  he  put 
his  life  in  his  hand,  and  smote  the  Philistine,  and  the 
Lord  wrought  a  great  victory  for  all  Israel :  thou  sawest 
it,  and  didst  rejoice  :  wherefore  then  wilt  thou  sin  against 

6  innocent  blood,  to  slay  David  without  a  cause  ?  And 
Saul  hearkened  unto  the  voice  of  Jonathan  :  and  Saul 
sware.  As  the  Lord  liveth,  he  shall  not  be  put  to  death. 

aftection  on  the  other,  were  favourite  themes  of  the  popular 
traditions  of  a  later  time.  The  symbol  T  has  accordingly  been 
adopted  for  such  elements  of  tradition  as  the  compiler  may  be  sup- 
posed to  have  incorporated  in  his  book,  as  distinguished  from  such 
post-redactional  passages  as  xix.  18  ff.,  denoted  throughout  by  Z. 
The  story,  accordingly,  as  told  by  our  oldest  authority  (M)  may 
have  run  somewhat  as  follows.  The  failure  of  Saul's  plans  for 
removing  David  (xviii.  25),  and  the  latter's  growing  popularity 
with  the  people  (xviii.  28  LXX),  so  fanned  the  flame  of  the  royal 
jealousy  that  further  successes  of  David  against  the  Philistines 
brought  on  an  access  of  frenzy,  which  issued  in  Saul  personally 
attempting  the  life  of  his  son-in-law  (xix.  8-10).  On  this  David 
has  recourse  to  Jonathan,  by  whose  connivance  Saul's  fixed 
determination  to  put  David  to  death  is  made  so  patent  that  David 
has  no  alternative  but  to  flee  the  court  and  seek  the  aid  of  the 
priests  at  Nob  (xx.  i — xxi.  i). 

xix.  1-7.  Temporary  reconciliation  of  Saul  and  David.  The  fact 
that  the  representation  given  in  ch.  xx.  i  ff".  of  the  relations 
between  Saul  and  David  on  the  one  hand,  and  between  David  and 
Jonathan  on  the  other,  seems  to  leave  no  room  for  this  earlier 


I    SAMUEL  19.7-13.     TMT  137 

And  Jonathan  called  David,  and  Jonathan  shewed  him  7 
all  those  things.     And  Jonathan  brought  David  to  Saul, 
and  he  was  in  his  presence,  as  beforetime. 

[M]  And  there  was  war  again  :  and  David  went  out,  8 
and  fought  with  the  Philistines,  and  slew  them  with  a 
great  slaughter ;  and  they  fled  before  him.     And  an  evil  9 
spirit  from  the  Lord  was  upon  Saul,  as  he  sat  in  his 
house  with  his  spear  in  his  hand  ;  and  David  played  with 
his  hand.     And  Saul  sought  to  smite  David  even  to  the  10 
wall  with  the  spear;  but  he  slipped  away  out  of  Saul's 
presence,  and  he  smote  the  spear  into  the  wall :  and 
David  fled,  and  escaped  that  night.     [T]  And  Saul  sent  1 1 
messengers  unto  David's  house,  to  watch  him,  and  to 
slay  him  in  the  morning :  and  Michal  David's  wife  told 
him,  saying.  If  thou  save  not  thy  life  to-night,  to-morrow 
thou  shalt  be  slain.     So  Michal  let  David  down  through  12 
the  window  :  and  he  went,  and  fled,  and  escaped.     And  13 
Michal  took  the  teraphim,  and  laid  it  in  the  bed,  and 

attempt  at  reconciliation  has  led  us  to  ascribe  this  passage  to  an 
independent  source.  Unless  verses  2  f.  are  to  be  taken  as  redac- 
tional,   the  whole  may  have  arisen  as  a  variant  of  ch.  xx  (cf.  xx. 

19,  35)- 

8-10.  Probably  the  original  continuation  of  xviii.  29*.  Since 
the  late  variant  xviii.  10  f,  is  no  part  of  the  true  text,  we  have  here 
the  first  mention  of  a  personal  attack  on  David  on  the  part  of  Saul. 
The  last  two  words  of  verse  11  'that  night'  belong  to  the  next 
episode  (so  LXX). 

xix.  1 1- 1 7.  Michats  stratagem  enables  David  to  escape.  H.  P. 
Smith  seeks  to  rescue  this  dramatic  incident  for  our  oldest  source 
by  the  conjecture  that  it  originally  followed  xviii,  27.  Saul 
sought  to  entrap  David  on  his  wedding  night !  But  this  attribution 
results  in  ch.  xx,  which  undoubtedly  contains  ancient  material  ,see 
below),  being  relegated  to  a  source  by  itself  (H.  P.  Smith,  Inter. 
Crit,  Cotnnt.,  p.  xxv). 

13.  the  teraphim:  though  plural  in  form,  here  applied  to 
a  single  object.  This  is  the  classical  passage  for  the  conclusion 
that  these  mysterious  images  were,  in  whole  or  in  part,  of  human 
form,  see  on  xv.  23. 


138  I    SAMUEL  19.  14-20.     TZ 

put  a  pillow  of  goats'  hair  at  the  head  thereof,  and  covered 

14  it  with  the  clothes.     And  when  Saul  sent  messengers  to 

15  take  David,  she  said,  He  is  sick.  And  Saul  sent  the 
messengers  to  see  David,  saying.  Bring  him  up  to  me  in 

16  the  bed,  that  I  may  slay  him.  And  when  the  messengers 
came  in,  behold,  the  teraphim  was  in  the  bed,  with  the 

ijr  pillow  of  goats'  hair  at  the  head  thereof.  And  Saul  said 
unto  Michal,  Why  hast  thou  deceived  me  thus,  and  let 
mine  enemy  go,  that  he  is  escaped?  And  Michal  answered 
Saul,  He  said  unto  me,  Let  me  go ;  why  should  I  kill 
thee  ? 

18  [Z]  Now  David  fled,  and  escaped,  and  came  to  Samuel 
to  Ramah,  and  told  him  all  that  Saul  had  done  to  him. 

19  And  he  and  Samuel  went  and  dwelt  in  Naioth.  And  it 
was  told  Saul,  saying.  Behold,  David  is  at   Naioth  in 

20  Ramah.  And  Saul  sent  messengers  to  take  David  :  and 
when  they  saw  the  company  of  the  prophets  prophesying, 
and  vSamuel  standing  as  head  over  them,  the  spirit  of 

a  pillow  of  gfoats'  hair  :  the  precise  meaning  of  the  word 
rendered  '  pillow '  is  unknown.  The  margin  gives  '  quilt '  or 
'network.'  The  last  is  suggested  by  the  etymology,  and  a  mosquito 
curtain  (see  Judith  x.  21)  of  hair  netting,  covering  and  so  obscuring 
the  features,  may  be  intended. 

xix.  18-24.  David  takes  refuge  with  Samuel  at  Ramah.  In 
addition  to  the  arguments  for  the  late  date  and  questionable 
historicity  of  this  passage  given  above,  it  may  be  added  («)  that 
the  portrait  of  Samuel  as  the  head  (verse  20)  of  a  so-called  '■  school 
of  the  prophets ' — such  as  we  find  in  the  story  of  Elisha,  2  Kings 
iv.  38 ff.,  vi.  iff. — is  inconsistent  with  the  historical  notice  of 
Samuel  as  living  and  working  apart  from  the  '  prophets  '  of  his 
time  (see  on  x.  5)  ;  (6)  historical  probability  is  in  favour  of  David 
taking  refuge  with  his  kinsfolk  in  the  south,  a  step  vouched  for  by 
the  narrative,  xxi.  i  ff.,  xxii.  i. 

18.  in  Naioth :  add,  with  LXX,  '  in  Ramah,'  as  always  in 
the  sequel.  The  name  remains  a  puzzle.  It  may  denote  the 
cloister  in  which  the  prophets  lodged  (cf.  2  Kings  vi.  i  fF.,  and  see 
Driver,  Notes,  in  he). 


I    SAMUEL  19.  21—20.  2.     ZM  139 

God  came  upon  the  messengers  of  Saul,  and  they  also 
prophesied.     And  when  it  was  told  Saul,  he  sent  other  21 
messengers,  and  they  also  prophesied.     And  Saul  sent 
messengers  again  the  third  time^  and  they  also  prophesied. 
Then  went  he  also  to  Ramah,  and  came  to  the  great  22 
well  that  is  in  Secu :  and  he  asked  and  said,  Where  are 
Samuel  and  David?   And  one  said,  Behold,  they  be  at 
Naioth  in  Ramah.     And  he  went  thither  to  Naioth  in  23 
Ramah  :  and  the  spirit  of  God  came  upon  him  also,  and 
he  went  on,  and  prophesied,  until  he  came  to  Naioth  in 
Ramah.     And  he  also  stripped  off  his  clothes,  and  he  24 
also  prophesied  before  Samuel,  and  lay  down  naked  all 
that  day  and  all  that  night.    Wherefore  they  say,  Is  Saul 
also  among  the  prophets  ? 

[M]  And  David  fled  from  Naioth  in  Ramah,  and  came  20 
and  said  before  Jonathan,  What  have  I  done?  what  is 
mine  iniquity  ?  and  what  is  my  sin  before  thy  father,  that 
he  seeketh  my  life  ?  And  he  said  unto  him,  God  forbid  ;  2 


22.  The  Greek  text  is  more  intelligible:  'And  Saul  was  ex- 
ceeding angry,  and  went  himself  also  to  Ramah,  and  came  to  the 
well  of  the  threshing-floor  which  is  on  the  height/  the  usual 
situation  of  the  village  threshing-floor. 

23.  lie  went  thither  :  the  sense  requires  •  he  went  from  there  ' 
(LXX). 

XX.  1-42.     David  and  Jonathan. 

In  this  chapter  we  have  one  of  the  most  effective  episodes  of  the 
book,  taken  in  the  main,  as  has  been  suggested  above,  from  the 
early  historical  work  which  we  have  designated  M.  In  the  case 
of  so  popular  a  stor}',  it  is  to  be  expected  that  various  excrescences 
would  gather  round  the  original  stock.  The  opening  words  are 
of  course  from  the  hand  that  inserted  the  Ramah  episode. 

1.  what  is  mine  iniquity?  and  what  is  my  sin?  The  two 
substantives  are  practically  synonymous  in  ordinary  usage,  but 
the  root-ideas  are  somewhat  different.  The  former  (Heb.  'dwon), 
from  a  root  meaning  'to  go  astray,'  denotes  strictly  'deviation 
from  the  right  track,  error '  (Driver),  the  latter  (liattath) '  a  missing 
of  the  mark,'  a  failure  of  duty  to  God  or  man. 


I40  I    SAMUEL  20.  3-5.     M 

thou  shalt  not  die :  behold,  my  father  doeth  nothing 
either  great  or  small,  but  that  he  discloseth  it  unto  me : 
and  why  should  my  father  hide  this  thing  from  me  ?  it 

3  is  not  so.  And  David  sware  moreover,  and  said,  Thy 
father  knoweth  well  that  I  have  found  grace  in  thine  eyes ; 
and  he  saith,  Let  not  Jonathan  know  this,  lest  he  be 
grieved  :   but  truly  as  the  Lord  liveth,  and  as  thy  soul 

4  Hveth,  there  is  but  a  step  between  me  and  death.  Then 
said  Jonathan  unto  David,  Whatsoever  thy  soul  desireth, 

5  I  will  even  do  it  for  thee.  And  David  said  unto 
Jonathan,  Behold,  to-morrow  is  the  new  moon,  and  I 
should  not  fail  to  sit  with  the  king  at  meat :  but  let  me 
go,  that  I  may  hide  myself  in  the  field  unto  the  third  day 

2.  he  discloseth  it  unto  me  :  lit.  '  uncovers  my  ear,'  used  of 
a  communication  between  man  and  man  as  here  (so  verses  12  f.), 
as  well  as  of  a  revelation  from  God  to  man  (ix.  15),  both  chapters 
being,  as  we  believe,  from  the  same  source. 

3.  as  thy  soul  liveth  :  '  a  pathetic  periphrasis  for  the  personal 
pronoun  '  (Driver),  as  much  as  '  by  thy  life.'  Another  instance  of 
this  double  oath,  by  the  life  of  Yahweh  and  the  life  of  the  person 
addressed,  is  found  xxv.  26  (also  M).  For  other  forms  in  Samuel 
see  on  iii.  17,  and  cf.  verse  13  below. 

4.  Jonathan's  answer  should  probably  take  the  form  of  a  query, 
as  in  R.V.  marg.,  to  which  David  replies  by  unfolding  a  scheme 
for  ascertaining  Saul's  intentions  with  regard  to  him. 

5.  to-morrow  is  the  new  moon :  the  day  on  which  the  new 
moon  was  first  visible  in  Palestine  was  from  the  earliest  times 
a  religious  festival  of  great  importance.  Like  the  Sabbath,  with 
which  it  is  frequently  associated,  it  was  a  day  of  rest  and  worship. 
It  was  also,  as  we  learn  here,  a  day  on  which  were  held  those 
religious  rites  by  which  the  various  sacral  communities,  clans 
and  families,  were  bound  together  (verses  6,  29). 

I  should  not  fail  to  sit :  preferable  is  the  LXX  reading, 
'and  I  will  not  sit  with  the  king  at  meat.'  Verse  25  shows  that 
David  regularly  sat,  with  Jonathan  and  Abner,  at  the  king's  table, 
and  not  merely  on  special  occasions.  The  fact  that  the  following 
day  was  new  moon  would  give  an  air  of  plausibility  to  David's 
pretext. 

unto  the  third  day  at  even  :  read,  '  until  the  evening.'  The 
present  ungrammatical  text  is  due  to  a  copyist  who  wished  to 


I    SAMUEL  20.  6-12.     MT  141 

at  even.     If  thy  lather  miss  me  at  all,  then  say,  David  6 
earnestly  asked  leave  of  me  that  he  might  run  to  Beth- 
lehem his  city  :  for  it  is  the  yearly  sacrifice  there  for  all  the 
family.    If  he  say  thus,  It  is  well ;  thy  servant  shall  have  7 
peace :    but  if  he   be   wroth,   then   know  that   evil   is 
determined  by  him.    Therefore  deal  kindly  with  thy  ser-  8 
vant ;  for  thou  hast  brought  thy  servant  into  a  covenant 
of  the  Lord  with  thee :  but  if  there  be  in  me  iniquity, 
slay  me  thyself;  for  why  shouldest  thou  bring  me  to  thy 
father  ?  And  Jonathan  said,  Far  be  it  from  thee  :  for  if  I  9 
should  at  all  know  that  evil  were  determined  by  my  father 
to  come  upon  thee,  then  would  not  I  tell  it  thee?   Then  10 
said  David  to  Jonathan,  Who  shall  tell  me  if  perchance 
thy  father  answer  thee  roughly?    [T]  And  Jonathan  said  u 
unto  David,  Come  and  let  us  go  out  into  the  field.    And 
they  went  out  both  of  them  into  the  field. 

And  Jonathan  said  unto  David,  The  Lord,  the  God  12 
of  Israel,  be  witness ;  when  I  have  sounded  my  father 

make   David's   proposal   agree   with   Jonathan's    (verse    19 ;    cf. 
verse  i2\ 

8.  a  covenant  of  the  LORD :  an  expression  found  here  onl}'. 
Yahweh  was  the  witness  and  guardian  of  all  such  covenants 
(verse  23}.  The  covenant  between  Jonathan  and  David  has 
been  previously  mentioned  only  in  the  inserted  passage,  xviii.  3, 
which  shows  that  a  later  passage  is  not  necessarily  unhistorical. 

9.  Par  be  it  from  me  :  the  same  expression  as  is  rendered 
•  God  forbid,'  verse  2,  xiv.  45. 

XX.  1 1- 17.  Jonathan  implores  the  mercy  of  David  in  vieiv  of  future 
contino^encies. 

There  is  a  general  consensus  of  critical  opinion  that  these  verses 
are  a  later  addition  to  the  main  narrative.  (x)  There  is  no 
apparent  reason  for  the  sudden  change  of  scene,  '  into  the  field '  ; 
(2)  the  r6les  of  the  actors  are  now  reversed,  Jonathan  the  power- 
ful protector  of  the  sections  that  precede  and  follow  becoming 
the  humble  suppliant  of  verses  14-16.  The  whole  seems  intended 
to  prepare  the  way  for  the  incident  of  2  Sam.  ix.  i  ft'.  Verse  r8, 
it  will  be  noted,  is  the  natural  continuation  of  verse  to. 


142  I   SAMUEL  20.  13-17.     T 

about  this  time  to-morrow,  or  the  third  day,  behold,  if 
there  be  good  toward  David,  shall  I  not  then  send  unto 
I. ^  thee,  and  disclose  it  unto  thee?  The  Lord  do  so  to 
Jonathan,  and  more  also,  should  it  please  my  father  to 
do  thee  evil,  if  I  disclose  it  not  unto  thee,  and  send  thee 
away,  that  thou  mayest  go  in  peace :  and  the  Lord  be 

14  with  thee,  as  he  hath  been  with  my  father.  And  thou 
shalt  not  only  while  yet  I  live  shew  me  the  kindness  of 

15  the  Lord,  that  I  die  not ;  but  also  thou  shalt  not  cut 
off  thy  kindness  from  my  house  for  ever  :  no,  not  when 
the  Lord  hath  cut  off  the  enemies  of  David  every  one 

16  from  the  face  of  the  earth.  So  Jonathan  made  a 
covenant  with  the  house  of  David,  sayings  And  the  Lord 

17  shall  require  it  at  the  hand  of  David's  enemies.  And 
Jonathan  caused  David  to  swear  again,  for  the  love  that 


12.  or  the  third  day ;  a  harmonistic  gloss,  see  on  verse  5. 

14-16.  No  one  can  fail  to  be  touched  by  the  pathos  of  these 
verses — the  brave,  noble-hearted  Jonathan  a  suppliant  of  David's 
grace,  as  if  coming  events  were  already  casting  their  shadow 
over  his  soul.  The  text  requires  some  emendation  which  brings 
out  more  forcibly  the  earnestness  and  aim  of  Jonathan's  appeal. 
*0h  that  while  yet  I  live,  oh  that  thou  wouldest  show  me  the  kind- 
ness of  Yahweh  (see  2  Sam.  ix.  2)  ;  but  if  I  should  die,  oh  that  thou 
wouldest  not  cut  off  thy  kindness  from  my  house  for  ever.  And 
when  Yahweh  hath  cut  oflT  the  enemies  of  David,  every  one  from 
the  face  of  the  earth,  should  the  name  of  Jonathan  be  destroyed 
by  the  house  of  David,  then  may  Yahweh  require  it  of  David' — 
so  essentiall3''  LXX,  supported  by  the  parallel  in  xxiv.  20  ff.  The 
latter  passage  gives  the  key  to  the  appeal  before  us.  Jonathan 
here,  like  his  father  there,  is  represented  as  foreseeing  the  down- 
fall of  his  house,  and  the  succession  of  '  the  house  of  David'  to 
the  throne.  In  view,  therefore,  of  the  barbarous  oriental  custom, 
vouched  for  in  i  Kings  xv.  29,  xvi.  11,  and  elsewhere,  Jonathan 
prays  that  his  '  name,'  as  continued  in  his  descendants,  may  be 
spared  by  David  and  his  successors,  whom  otherwise  God  will 
call  to  account. 

17.  Read,  with  LXX,  '  And  Jonathan  sware  yet  again  to 
David  by  his  love  toward  him  '  (as  R.  V.  marg.\  i.  e.  he  repeated 
the  oath  of  verse  13. 


I   SAMUEL  20.  iS-24.     TM  143 

he  had  to  him :   for  he  loved  him  as  he  loved  his  own 
soul.     [M]  Then  Jonathan  said  unto  him,  To-morrow  is  18 
the  new  moon :   and  thou  shalt  be  missed,  because  thy 
seat  will  be  empty.     And  when  thou  hast  stayed  three  19 
days,  thou  shalt  go  down  quickly,  and  come  to  the  place 
where  thou  didst  hide  thyself  when  the  business  was  in 
hand,  and  shalt  remain  by  the  stone  Ezel.     And  I  will  20 
shoot  three  arrow-s  on  the  side  thereof,  as  though  I  shot 
at  a  mark.    And,  behold,  I  will  send  the  lad,  saying.  Go,  2 1 
fmd  the  arrows.     If  I  say  unto  the   lad.  Behold,  the 
arrows  are  on  this  side  of  thee  :  take  them,  and  come  : 
for  there  is  peace  to   thee  and   no  hurt,  as   the   Lord 
liveth.     But   if  I  say  thus  unto  the   boy.  Behold,  the  22 
arrows  are  beyond  thee  :   go  thy  way  ;    for  the  Lord 
hath  sent  thee  away.     And  as  touching  the  matter  which  23 
thou  and  I  have  spoken  of,  behold,  the  Lord  is  between 
thee  and  me  for  ever. 

So  David  hid  himself  in  the  field  :   and  when  the  new  24 
moon  was  come,  the  king  sat  him  down  to  eat  meat. 

18.  We  now  return  to  the  main  narrative  in  which  Jonathan 
elaborates  a  scheme  of  communication  with  David  in  hiding. 

19.  thou  shalt  go  down  quickly  :  the  text  of  this  verse  is 
corrupt  ;  the  Greek  has  here,  •  thou  wilt  be  greatly  missed.' 

when  the  business  was  in  hand  :  lit.  '  on  the  da}'  of  the 
deed' — probably  another  corruption  ;  at  least,  there  is  no  clue  in 
our  extant  record  to  the  deed  in  question.  The  marginal  reference 
to  xix.  2  is  a  mere  makeshift. 

by  the  stone  Ezel :  read,  as  emended  with  the  help  of  LXX. 
'  bj^  j'onder  mound  '  (see  on  verse  41). 

20.  Read,  '  and  on  the  third  day  I  will  shoot  with  arrows  at 
the  side  thereof.' 

21.  take  them,  and  come:  the  Re\'isers  ex-idently  took  these 
words  as  addressed  to  David,  but  the  singular  pronoun  (note  the 
margin)  shows  that  Jonathan  proposed  to  shoot  a  single  arrow 
as  the  signal  (see  verses  36  f.),  and  we  should  render  :  '  If  I  say 
.  .  .  the  arrow  is  on  this  side  of  thee,  fetch  it,  then  come  thou 
(David),  for  there  is  peace,'  &c.' 

XX.  24-42.  SauVs  iniention  discovered  and  communicated  to  David. 


144  I   SAMUEL  20.  25-30.     M 

25  And  the  king  sat  upon  his  seat,  as  at  other  times,  even 
upon  the  seat  by  the  wall ;  and  Jonathan  stood  up,  and 
Abner  sat  by  Saul's  side  :  but  David's  place  was  empty. 

a 6  Nevertheless  Saul  spake  not  any  thing  that  day  :  for  he 
thought,  Something  hath  befallen  him,  he  is  not  dean  ; 

27  surely  he  is  not  clean.  And  it  came  to  pass  on  the 
morrow  after  the  new  moon,  which  ivas  the  second  day^ 
that  David's  place  was  empty :  and  Saul  said  unto 
Jonathan  his  son.  Wherefore  cometh  not  the  son  of  Jesse 

28  to  meat,  neither  yesterday,  nor  to-day?  An^  Jonathan 
answered  Saul,  David  earnestly  asked  leave  of  me  to  go 

29  to  Beth-lehem  :  and  he  said.  Let  me  go,  I  pray  thee ; 
for  our  family  hath  a  sacrifice  in  the  city;  and  my 
brother,  he  hath  commanded  me  to  be  there :  and  now, 
if  I  have  found  favour  in  thine  eyes,  let  me  get  away,  I 
pray  thee,  and  see  my  brethren.     Therefore  he  is  not 

30  come  unto  the  king's  table.  Then  Saul's  anger  was 
kindled  against  Jonathan,  and  he  said  unto  him,  Thou 
son  of  a  perverse  rebellious  woman,  do  not  I  know  that 
thou  hast  chosen  the  son  of  Jesse  to  thine  own  shame, 

25.  and  Jouatliau  stood  up :  read,  '  and  Jonathan  was  in 
front '  (LXX),  in  the  seat  opposite  Saul.  The  other  two  places 
were  occupied  usually  by  the  king's  son-in-law,  and  his  com- 
mander-in-chief. The  more  luxurious  fashion  of  reclining  at 
meals  had  not  yet  been  introduced. 

26.  surely  he  is  not  clean :  read,  with  LXX,  '  for  he  hath 
not  been  cleansed.'  Saul's  modest  reticence  may  be  noted  (see 
Lev.  XV.  16 ;  Deut.  xxiii.  10).  The  passage  is  of  interest  as 
attesting  the  scrupulous  regard,  even  in  this  early  period,  for 
ceremonial  purity. 

29.  my  brother:  with  LXX  we  should  read  *my  brethren,' 
as  in  the  next  clause.  The  festival  was  the  annual  reunion 
(verse  6)  of  the  larger  sacral  community  of  the  clan,  not  merely 
of  David's  immediate  kinsfolk  or  '  father's  house.* 

30.  son  of  a  perverse  rebellious  woman  :  to  curse  a  man's 
parents  and  ancestors  generally  is  a  familiar  trait  of  the  hasty 
Arab,  but  the  sting  of  Saul's  abuse  lies  in  the  insinuation  that 
Jonathan  was  no  son  of  his  I 


I   SAMUEL  20.  31-39.     M  145 

and  unto  the  shame  of  thy  mother's  nakedness  ?    For  as  31 
long  as  the  son  of  Jesse  Hveth  upon  the  ground,  thou 
shalt  not  be  stablished,  nor  thy  kingdom.      Wherefore 
now  send  and  fetch  him  unto  me,  for  he  shall  surely  die. 
And  Jonathan  answered  Saul  his  father,  and  said  unto  32 
him,  Wherefore  should  he  be  put  to  death  ?  what  hath 
he  done  ?   And  Saul  cast  his  spear  at  him  to  smite  him  :  33 
whereby  Jonathan  knew  that  it  was  determined  of  his 
father  to  put  David  to  death.     So  Jonathan  arose  from  34 
the  table  in  fierce  anger,  and  did  eat  no  meat  the  second 
day  of  the  month  :  for  he  was  grieved  for  David,  because 
his  father  had  done  him  shame. 

And  it  came  to  pass  in  the  morning,  that  Jonathan  35 
went  out  into  the  field  at  the  time  appointed  with  David, 
and  a  little  lad  with  him.     And  he  said  unto  his  lad,  36 
Run,  find  now  the  arrows  which  1  shoot.     And  as  the 
lad  ran,  he  shot  an  arrow  beyond  him.     And  when  the  37 
lad  was  come  to  the  place  of  the  arrow  which  Jonathan 
had  shot,  Jonathan  cried  after  the  lad,  and  said,  Is  not 
the  arrow  beyond  thee  ?   And  Jonathan  cried  after  the  38 
lad,  Make  speed,  haste,  stay  not.     And  Jonathan's  lad 
gathered  up  the  arrows,  and  came  to  his  master.     But  39 
the  lad  knew  not  any  thing :  only  Jonathan  and  David 

31.  Saul  is  now  seen  to  be  haunted  by  the  fear  that  David's 
popularity  with  his  countrymen  would  secure  for  him  the  succes- 
sion to  the  throne.  This  was  all  the  more  probable  since  the 
principle  of  succession  by  primogeniture  had  not  yet  had  an 
opportunity  of  establishing  itself. 

34.  Since  it  was  Jonathan  himself,  not  David,  to  whom  Saul 
'  had  done  shame,'  it  is  better,  with  LXX  (B),  to  omit  '  for  he  was 
grieved  for  David.'  His  father's  coarse  and  insulting  speech  is 
suflScient  to  account  for  Jonathan's  '  fierce  anger.' 

37.  Jonathan  seems  to  have  proceeded  thus  :  he  first  shoots 
a  few  arrows,  then  orders  his  page  to  run  and  fetch  them,  and 
finally,  while  the  boy  is  running,  he  shoots  the  signal  arrow  over 
the  boy's  head  (.note  the  margin  ,  and  furtiicr  than  the  others. 


146  I   SAMUEL  20.  40—2I.  1.     M 

40  knew  the  matter.  And  Jonathan  gave  his  weapons  unto 
his  lad,  and  said  unto  him,  Go,  carry  them  to  the  city. 

41  And  as  soon  as  the  lad  was  gone,  David  arose  out  of  a 
place  toward  the  South,  and  fell  on  his  face  to  the  ground, 
and  bowed  himself  three  times  :  and  they  kissed  one  an- 
other, and  wept  one  with  another,  until  David  exceeded. 

42  And  Jonathan  said  to  David,  Go  in  peace,  forasmuch  as 
we  have  sworn  both  of  us  in  the  name  of  the  Lord, 
saying.  The  Lord  shall  be  between  me  and  thee,  and 
between  my  seed  and  thy  seed,  for  ever.  And  he  arose 
and  departed  :  and  Jonathan  went  into  the  city. 

21      Then  came  David  to  Nob  to  Ahimelech  the  priest: 

41.  out  of  a  place  toAvard  the  South:  a  characteristic 
specimen  of  the  Revisers'  deference  to  the  traditional  text.  We 
must  of  course  read  with  the  LXX  :  '  David  arose  from  beside 
the  mound'  (see  on  verse  19).  Verses  40-42,  however,  are 
regarded  by  most  commentators  as  '  an  editorial  expansion,  pure 
and  simple.'     For  the  grounds  see  H.  P.  Smith,  in  loc. 

B.  I  Sam.  xxi-xxvi.  DaviW  s  Flight  from  Court  and  his  subsequent 
Adventures  as  an  Outlaw  Captain  in  the  South. 

These  six  chapters  relate  the  fortunes  of  David  from  the  date  of 
his  final  breach  with  Saul  until  he  finds  himself  reduced,  as  a  last 
resource,  to  take  refuge  with  Saul's  inveterate  enemies  the  Philis- 
tines. The  story  consists  of  a  number  of  separate  incidents,  the 
chronological  succession  of  which  it  is  no  longer  possible  to  de- 
termine with  accuracy.  Indeed,  as  will  appear,  it  is  impossible  to 
escape  the  conclusion  that  here,  as  elsewhere  in  Samuel,  we  have 
more  than  once  duplicate  accounts  of  the  same  historical  incident. 
We  may  breakup  this  subdivision  into  four  sections:  (a)  xxi-xxii, 
(6)  xxiii-xxiv,  (c)  xxv,  (d)  xxvi,  the  headings  of  which  are  given 
below. 

(a)  xxi.  I — xxii.  23.  David's  reception  at  the  sanctuary  of  Nob  and 
its  consequences. 

Convinced  of  Saul's  designs  upon  his  life,  David  now  flees  the 
court,  and  makes  first  for  the  Benjamite  sanctuary  to  which  the 
priestly  house  of  Eli  must  have  removed  after  the  destruction  of 
Shiloh  by  the  Philistines  (see  above,  p,  67).  With  the  exception 
of  the  post-redactional  passage,  xxi.  10-15,  these  two  chapters 
form  a  connected  narrative  from  the  early  source,  M. 

1.  Nob    lay    somewhere    close    to    Jerusalem    on    the    north 


I    SAMUEL   21.  2-5.     M  147 

and  Ahimelech  came  to   meet    David   trembling,    and 
said  unto  him,  Why  art  thou  alone,  and  no  man  with 
thee  ?      And   David  said   unto   Ahimelech   the   priest,  2 
The  king  hath  commanded  me  a  business,  and   hath 
said  unto  me.  Let  no  man  know  any  thing  of  the  busi- 
ness whereabout  I   send  thee,  and  what  I  have  com- 
manded thee  :   and  I  have  appointed  the  young  men  to 
such  and  such  a  place.     Now  therefore  what  is  under  3 
thine  hand  ?  give  me  five  loaves  of  bread  in  mine  hand, 
or  whatsoever  there  is  present.     And  the  priest  answered  4 
David,   and  said,  There   is   no   common   bread   under 
mine  hand,  but  there  is  holy  bread ;   if  only  the  young 
men  have  kept  themselves  from  women.     And  David  5 
answered  the  priest,  and   said   unto   him.    Of  a   truth 
women  have  been  kept  from  us  about  these  three  days ; 
when  I  came  out,  the  vessels  of  the  young  men  were 

(Isa.  X.  32),  and  nearer  than  Anathoth,  which  was  only  two 
and  a  half  miles  from  the  capital.  The  head  of  the  official 
priesthood  was  now  Ahimelech,  the  son  of  Ahitub  (xxii.  9),  and 
therefore  great-grandson  of  Eli,  as  we  see  from  the  genealogy, 
xiv.  3. 

2.  On  Ahimelech  expressing  surprise  that  the  king's  son-in-law 
should  travel  unattended,  David  invents  the  excuse  of  a  secret 
mission,  alleging  that  the  usual  escort  had  been  given  a  rendezvous 
elsewhere. 

4.  holy  bread  :  bread  hallowed  (A.  V.)  or  consecrated  by  being 
laid  before  Yahweh,  hence  termed  in  Hebrew  'presence-bread' 
(Exod.  XXV.  30,  R.V.  marg.),  the  '  shewbread  '  of  our  English 
version  (verse  6).  The  custom  of  placing  loaves  of  sweet  or 
unleavened  bread  on  tables  in  the  temples  seems  to  have  origin- 
ated among  the  Babylonians,  by  whom  also  it  was  termed  '  bread 
of  the  presence  '  (KA  T.  ^  600).  In  later  times  the  presence-bread 
could  only  be  eaten  by  the  priests,  and  by  them  only  within  the 
sanctuary.  Such  stringency  does  not  appear  in  the  present 
narrative.  It  is  enougli  that  David  and  his  men  are  ceremonially 
clean. 

5.  Owing  chiefly  to  the  antique  religious  conceptions  involved, 
to  the  overloaded  text,  and  to  the  ambiguity  of  the  word  variously 
lendered  vessels  (i.e.  wallets,  or  bags),  'weapons,'  'bodies,'  &c., 

L   2 


148  I    SAMUEL  21.  6-8.     M 

holy,  though  it  was  but  a  common  journey  ;  how  much 

6  more  then  to-day  shall  their  vessels  be  holy  ?  So  the  priest 
gave  him  holy  bread :  for  there  was  no  bread  there  but 
the  shewbread,  that  was  taken  from  before  the  Lord,  to 

7  put  hot  bread  in  the  day  when  it  was  taken  away.  Now 
a  certain  man  of  the  servants  of  Saul  was  there  that  day, 
detained  before  the  Lord  ;  and  his  name  was  Doeg  the 
Edomite,  the  chiefest  of  the  herdmen  that  belonged  to 

8  Saul.  And  David  said  unto  Ahimelech,  And  is  there 
not  here  under  thine  hand  spear  or  sword  ?  for  I  have 
neither  brought   my  sword  nor   my  weapons  with  me, 


the  interpretation  of  this  verse  is  beset  with  difficulties.  David's 
reply  may  be  rendered  thus  :  '  Of  a  truth  women  have  been  taboo 
for  us  as  on  former  occasions  when  I  went  forth  (i.  e.  on  military 
duty),  and  the  wallets  of  the  young  men  have  been  consecrated  ; 
how  much  more  shall  they  be  consecrated  to-day,  wallets  (?)  and 
all.'  In  justification  of  this  interpretation  it  may  be  added  :  (i) 
that  of  the  various  taboos  which  had  to  be  obser\'ed  by  '  the 
consecrated  ones'  (see  on  xiii.  9)  in  early  times,  none  was  more 
widely  current  than  the  sexual  taboo,  which  meets  us  again  in 
the  episode  of  Uriah  (2  Sam.  xi.  iiff.);  (2)  the  consecration 
ceremony  doubtless  included  the  soldier's  complete  equipment, 
although  we  hear  only  of  the  anointing  of  the  shield  (2  Sam.  i.  21). 
David,  in  short,  asserts  that  by  putting  the  consecrated  bread  into 
the  wallets  of  his  soldiers,  these  would  be  affected  by  the  con- 
tagion of  '  holiness '  in  the  antique  sense  in  which  this  term  was 
then  understood.  See  further  W.  R.  Smith,  Rel.  Sem.^,  455  f-? 
and  the  special  discussion  by  Schwally,  Semitische  Kriegsalter- 
thttmer,  60-66. 

though  it  was  but  a  common  journey :  these  words  seem 
to  be  a  marginal  remark  of  a  reader  pointing  out  that  David  was 
prevaricating  in  claiming  that  he  was  then  on  a  consecrated 
military  expedition. 

7.  detained  before  the  IiOBD  :  a  phrase  from  the  same  antique 
religious  terminology,  and  from  the  same  root  as  the  word  above 
rendered  *  taboo.'  It  signifies  '  under  a  taboo  '  in  the  sense  of 
*  excluded  from  the  cultus.'  Doeg  had  been  detained  overnight 
in  the  sanctuary  precincts,  probably  undergoing  purification  before 
being  admitted  to  some  act  of  worship. 

the  chiefest  of  the  herdmen :  a  doubtful  rendering :  the 
LXX  has  *  Saul's  muleherd.' 


I   SAMUEL  21.  9-13.     MZ  149 

because  the  king's  business  required  haste.  And  the  9 
priest  said,  The  sword  of  Goliath  the  PhiHstine,  whom 
thou  slewest  in  the  vale  of  Elah,  behold,  it  is  here 
wrapped  in  a  cloth  behind  the  ephod :  if  thou  wilt  take 
that,  take  it :  for  there  is  no  other  save  that  here.  And 
David  said,  There  is  none  like  that ;  give  it  me. 

[Z]  And  David  arose,  and  fled  that  day  for  fear  of  10 
Saul,  and  went  to  Achish  the  king  of  Gath.     And  the  11 
servants  of  Achish  said  unto  him,  Is  not  this  David  the 
king  of  the  land?  did  they  not  sing  one  to  another  of 
him  in  dances,  saying, 

Saul  hath  slain  his  thousands, 

And  David  his  ten  thousands  ? 
And  David  laid  up  these  words  in  his  heart,  and  was  12 
sore  afraid  of  Achish  the  king  of  Gath.     And  he  changed  13 
his  behaviour  before  them,  and  feigned  himself  mad  in 

9.  If  the  contention  that  'the  Philistine'  of  ch.  xvii  has  been 
erroneously  identified  with  Goliath  is  correct  (see  p.  122),  the 
name  will  be  here  due  to  a  glossator  (also  xx.  10).  For  the 
inference  to  be  drawn  from  the  verse  regarding  the  ephod,  see 
on  ii.  28.  The  custom  of  depositing  military  trophies  in  sanctu- 
aries also  obtained  among  the  Philistines  (v.  2,  xxxi.  10). 

xxi.   10-15.  David  flees  to  Achish^  king  of  Gath. 

This  curious  episode  is  now  regarded  as  belonging  to  the  same 
series  of  later  additions  in  the  style  of  the  Midrash  as  xix.  18-24. 
Both  historically  and  psychologically  it  is  an  inferior  duplicate  of 
xxv'ii.  I  f.  (note  the  improbable  designation  of  David  in  verse  it, 
and  the  undignified  proceedings  of  verse  13).  The  motive  of  this 
legend  was  doubtless  to  remove  the  objection  to  David's  un- 
patriotic action  in  ch.  xxvii — which  it  was  perhaps  intended  to 
supplant — by  representing  him  as  going  alone  to  Achish  and  as 
quitting  him  as  soon  as  possible. 

11.  David  the  king*  of  the  land  :  a  curious  anachronism  of 
a  kind  characteristic  of  the  edifying  but  unhistorical  literature 
of  the  Midrash. 

13.  felled  himself  mad :  a  policy  frequently  adopted  in 
similar  circumstances  in  the  East,  where  lunatics  are  held  in 
special  dread  as  possessed  by  a  powerful  spirit. 


T50  I   SAMUEL  21.  14-22.  5.     ZM 

their  hands,  and  scrabbled  on  the  doors  of  the  gate,  and 

14  let  his  spittle  fall  down  upon  his  beard.  Then  said 
Achish  unto  his  servants,  Lo,  ye  see  the  man  is  mad  : 

15  wherefore  then  have  ye  brought  him  to  me  ?  Do  I  lack 
mad  men,  that  ye  have  brought  this  fellow  to  play  the 
mad  man  in  my  presence  ?  shall  this  fellow  come  into 
my  house  ? 

22  [M]  David  therefore  departed  thence,  and  escaped  to 
the  cave  of  Adullam  :  and  when  his  brethren  and  all  his 
father's  house  heard  it,  they  went  down  thither  to  him. 

2  And  every  one  that  was  in  distress,  and  every  one  that 
was  in  debt,  and  every  one  that  was  discontented, 
gathered  themselves  unto  him ;  and  he  became  captain 
over  them  :  and  there  were  with  him  about  four  hundred 
men. 

3  And  David  went  thence  to  Mizpeh  of  Moab  :  and  he 
said  unto  the  king  of  Moab,  Let  my  father  and  my 
mother,  I  pray  thee,  come  forth,  and  be  with  you,  till  I 

4  know  what  God  will  do  for  me.  And  he  brought  them 
before  the  king  of  Moab  :   and  they  dwelt  with  him  all 

5  the  while  that  David  was  in  the  hold.     And  the  prophet 

scrabbled  :  rather,  with  LXX,  '  drummed  '  with  his  hands. 

xxii.  I  f.,  the  continuation  of  xx.  9 ;  David  escapes  to  Adullam 
and  becomes  the  leader  of  a  band  of  outlaws.  The  expression 
cave  of  Adullam,  which  has  passed  into  a  proverb  among  us,  is 
due  to  a  corruption  of  the  similar  Hebrew  word  for  '  stronghold,' 
the  '■  hold  '  of  verse  4.  See  also  on  2  Sam.  xxiii.  13  f.  Adullam, 
in  all  probability,  is  the  modern  Aid-el-Ma  on  the  edge  of  the 
Shephelah  (G.  A.  Smith,  Hist.  Geog.  229),  about  twelve  miles 
west  by  south  of  Beth-lehem.  That  the  outlaw  should  be  joined 
by  his  immediate  relatives  and  the  rest  of  his  sept  or  father's 
house  was  a  natural  measure  of  precaution. 

3fF.  David  places  his  parents  in  the  safe  keeping  of  the  king  of 
Moab.     His  great-grandmother  was  a  Moabitess  according  to  the 
book  which  bears  her  name  (Ruth  iv,  21  f.). 
Mizpeh  of  Moab  has  not  been  identified. 

6.  the   prophet    Gad    appears    again,    2   Sam.    xxiv.    11,   as 


I   SAMUEL   22.  6-10.     M  151 

Gad  said  unto  David,  Abide  not  in  the  hold ;  depart, 
and  get  thee  into  the  land  of  Judah.  Then  David 
departed,  and  came  into  the  forest  of  Hereth. 

And  Saul  heard  that  David  was  discovered,  and  the  6 
men  that  were  with  him  :  now  Saul  was  sitting  in  Gibeah, 
under  the  tamarisk  tree  in  Ramah,  with  his  spear  in  his 
hand,  and  all  his  servants   were   standing   about  him. 
And  Saul  said  unto  his  servants  that  stood  about  him,  7 
Hear  now  ye  Benjamites  ;   will  the  son  of  Jesse  give 
every  one  of  you  fields  and  vineyards,  will  he  make  you 
all  captains  of  thousands  and  captains  of  hundreds  ;  that  8 
all  of  you  have  conspired  against  me,  and  there  is  none 
that  discloseth  to  me  when  my  son  maketh  a  league  with 
the  son  of  Jesse,  and  there  is  none  of  you  that  is  sorry 
for  me,  or  discloseth  unto  me  that  my  son  hath  stirred 
up  my  servant  against  me,  to  lie  in  wait,  as  at  this  day  ? 
Then  answered  Doeg  the  Edomite,  which  stood  by  the  9 
servants  of  Saul,  and  said,  I  saw  the  son  of  Jesse  coming 
to  Nob,  to  Ahimelech   the   son   of  Ahitub.      And   he  10 

'  David's  seer,'  and  is  mentioned  by  the  Chronicler,  along  with 
Samuel  and  Nathan,  as  the  author  of  a  history  of  the  period 
(t  Chron.  xxix.  29). 

in  the  hold:  the  Syriac  reading  'in  Mizpeh  *  is  here 
generally  preferred  for  the  reason  that  '  the  hold  '  of  Adullam 
was  itself  in  the  land  of  Judah,  as  is  plain  from  xxiii.  3.  The 
forest  of  Kereth  is  unknown. 

xxii.  6-23.  Saul  fakes  a  cruel  revenge  on  the  priests  of  Nob. 

6.  In  Bamah:  read,  as  R.  V.  marg.,  'on  the  height.'  We 
are  here  introduced  to  Saul  engaged  in  the  administration  of 
justice,  seated  like  Deborah  (Judges  iv.  5)  under  a  sacred  tree  on 
the  moot-hill  at  Gibeah.  his  servants  are  the  officers  of  state, 
the  spear  in  his  hand  one  of  the  insignia  of  royalty. 

8.  to  lie  in  wait :  read,  with  LXX,  '  as  an  enemy  ■  ;  so  also 
verse  13. 

9  f.  In  the  opinion  of  the  editors  of  the  Psalter,  Ps.  Hi  com- 
memorates this  piece  of  tale-bearing. 

10.  ilie  inquired  of  the  LORD  for  him  :  a  fact  not  mentioned 


152  I   SAMUEL  22.  ir-17.     M 

inquired  of  the  Lord  for  him,  and  gave  him  victuals, 

ir  and  gave  him  the  sword  of  Goliath  the  Philistine.     Then 

the  king  sent  to  call  Ahimelech  the  priest,  the  son  of 

Ahitub,  and  all  his  father's  house,  the  priests  that  were 

12  in  Nob  :  and  they  came  all  of  them  to  the  king.  And 
Saul  said,   Hear  now,   thou   son   of  Ahitub.     And  he 

13  answered,  Here  I  am,  my  lord.  And  Saul  said  unto 
him.  Why  have  ye  conspired  against  me,  thou  and  the 
son  of  Jesse,  in  that  thou  hast  given  him  bread,  and 
a  sword,  and  hast  inquired  of  God  for  him,  that  he 
should  rise  against  me,  to  lie  in  wait,  as  at  this  day  ? 

14  Then  Ahimelech  answered  the  king,  and  said,  And 
who  among  all  thy  servants  is  so  faithful  as  David,  which 
is  the  king's  son  in  law,  and  is  taken  into  thy  council, 

15  and  is  honourable  in  thine  house  ?  Have  I  to-day 
begun  to  inquire  of  God  for  him  ?  be  it  far  from  me  : 
let  not  the  king  impute  any  thing  unto  his  servant, 
nor   to  all   the    house   of  my   father :    for   thy  servant 

16  knoweth  nothing  of  all  this,  less  or  more.  And  the 
king  said,  Thou  shalt  surely  die,  Ahimelech,  thou,  and 

17  all  thy  father's  house.  And  the  king  said  unto  the 
guard  that  stood  about  him.  Turn,  and  slay  the  priests 
of  the  Lord  ;  because  their  hand  also  is  with  David,  and 
because  they  knew  that  he  fled,  and  did  not  disclose  it 


in  the  preceding  chapter,  but  most  natural  in  the  circumstances, 
as  maj'  be  seen  from  David's  practice  somewhat  later  (xxiii.  2  ff.  ; 
XXX.  8  ;  see  also  verse  15  below). 

14.  and  is  taken  into  thy  council :  read,  with  LXX  and  the 
Targum :  '  and  is  captain  over  thy  bodyguard.'  Ahimelech 
rebuts  the  charge  of  disloyalty  brought  against  David  before 
asserting  the  innocence  of  himself  and  his  fellow  priests. 

17.  the  ifuard:  lit.  as  marg.,  'the  runners,'  see  on  viii.  ii. 
Saul's  charge  of  complicity  is  not  borne  out  by  anything  in  the 
previous  narrative,  and  has  just  been  expressly  disclaimed  by 
Ahimelech. 


I   SAMUEL  22.  18-22.     M  153 

to  me.     But  the  servants  of  the  king  would  not  put  forth 
their  hand  to  fall  upon  the  priests  of  the  Lord.     And  18 
the  king  said  to  Doeg,  Turn  thou,  and   fall   upon  the 
priests.      And   Doeg  the  Edomite  turned,  and  he  fell 
upon  the  priests,  and  he  slew  on  that  day  fourscore  and 
five  persons  that  did  wear  a  linen  ephod.     And  Nob,  the  19 
city  of  the  priests,  smote  he  with  the  edge  of  the  sword, 
both  men  and  women,  children  and  sucklings,  and  oxen 
and  asses  and  sheep,  with  the  edge  of  the  sword.     And  20 
one  of  the  sons  of  Ahimelech  the  son  of  Ahitub,  named 
Abiathar,  escaped,  and  fled  after  David.     And  Abiathar  21 
told  David  that  Saul  had  slain  the  Lord's  priest^     And  22 
David  said  unto  Abiathar,  I  knew  on  that  day,  when 
Doeg  the  Edomite  was  there,  that  he  would  surely  tell 
Saul  :    I  have  occasioned  the  death  of  all  the  persons  of 


18.  that  did  wear  a  linen  ephod  {ephod  bad) :  this,  as  we 
know,  was  a  distinctive  item  of  the  priestly  dress  (see  on  ii.  18). 
But  in  this  case  the  word  for  '  linen '  (bad)  is  wanting  in  the 
Greek  text,  and  that  rendered  'wear'  always  means  'to  lift  up, 
carry,'  &c.  ;  accordingly  we  must  here  render  '  he  slew  on  that 
day  eighty-five  ephod-bearing  men,'  i.  e.  priests  of  full  status, 
each  qualified  to  give  an  oracle  by  consulting  the  ephod.  This 
was  one  of  the  three  prerogatives  of  the  priesthood  enumerated 
ii.  28,  where  see  note  on  the  ephod. 

20.  Abiathar,  one  of  the  sons  of  Ahimelech,  who  had  probably 
been  left  in  charge  of  the  sanctuary,  escapes  from  the  massacre  at 
Nob,  carrying  with  him  the  sacred  image  (see  xxiii.  6).  He 
naturally  took  refuge  at  Adullam  (see  on  xxiii.  2)  with  David, 
whom  he  accompanied  in  his  subsequent  wanderings,  and  by 
whom  he  was  afterwards  appointed  joint  custodian  of  the  Ark. 
Espousing  the  cause  of  Adonijah  in  the  matter  of  the  disputed 
succession,  he  was  banished  by  Solomon  to  his  estate  at  Anathoth 
(i  Kings  ii.  26).  Mention  may  here  be  made  of  Duhm's  attractive 
conjecture  that  to  Abiathar  or  one  of  his  family  we  owe  the  court 
and  family  history  of  David  preserved  in  2  Sam.  ix-xx  (our  C), 
which  may  carry  with  it  the  authorship  of  the  historical  document 
(M)  we  are  now  following  (see  Introd.,  sect.  iv).  There  can  be 
no  doubt  that  David's  cause  was  greatly  strengthened,  now  and 
afterwards,  by  the  support  of  the  only  surviving  representative  of 
the  most  influential  priestly  family  in  Israel. 


154  I   SAMUEL  22.  23—23.  5.     M 

23  thy  fathers  house.  Abide  thou  with  me,  fear  not ;  for 
he  that  seeketh  my  Hfe  seeketh  thy  Hfe  :  for  with  me 
thou  shalt  be  in  safeguard. 

23  And  they  told  David,  saying,  Behold,  the  Philistines 
are  fighting  against  Keilah,  and  they  rob  the  threshing- 

2  floors.  Therefore  David  inquired  of  the  Lord,  saying, 
Shall  I  go  and  smite  these  Philistines  ?  And  the  Lord 
said  unto  David,  Go,  and  smite  the  Philistines,  and  save 

3  Keilah.  And  David's  men  said  unto  him,  Behold,  we 
be  afraid  here  in  Judah  :  how  much  more  then  if  we  go 

4  to  Keilah  against  the  armies  of  the  Philistines  ?  Then 
David  inquired  of  the  Lord  yet  again.  And  the  Lord 
answered  him  and  said,  Arise,  go  down  to  Keilah ;  for  I 

5  will  deliver  the  Philistines  into  thine  hand.     And  David 

23.  he  that  seeketh  my  life  seeketh  thy  life.  The  context 
requires  the  suffixes  to  be  transposed  ;  read,  *  he  that  seeketh  thy 
life  seeketh  my  Hfe,'  a  sentiment  which  reveals  the  heart  of  one 
who,  more  than  any  other  in  Hebrew  history,  had  the  power  of 
attaching  men,  in  self-sacrificing  devotion,  to  himself. 

(b)  xxiii-xxiv.  David  relieves  Keilah  and  spares  SauPs  life.  The 
first  of  David's  exploits  as  captain  of  a  band  of  freelances  was  his 
rescue  of  a  frontier  town  of  Judah  from  imminent  capture  by  the 
Philistines  (xxiii.  1-13).  David  has  still  his  head  quarters  in  the 
fort  of  Adullam,  and  the  season  is  midsummer. 

1.  Keilah:  the  modern  Kilah,  some  three  miles  south  of 
Adullam.     It    is    mentioned    in    the    Amarna    correspondence, 

C.    1400  B.C. 

2.  Bavid  inquired  of  the  LORD  :  the  standing  formula  for 
consulting  the  sacred  oracle.  Considerable  light  is  thrown  on  the 
method  of  procedure  by  the  narratives  of  this  chapter  and  of  xxx. 
7  f .  A  succession  of  questions  was  apparently  put  to  the  oracle, 
each  of  which  admitted  of  being  answered  by  a  simple  '  yes  '  or 
*  no '  according  to  the  lot,  Urim  or  Thummim,  which  was  cast 
(see  further  the  note  on  xiv.  41).  The  fact  that  no  mention  is 
made  in  this  verse  of  the  oracular  ephod  seems  to  have  struck  an 
early  reader,  who  added  in  his  margin  the  note  which  now  stands 
in  the  text  as  verse  6  (but  without  the  words  'to  Keilah  ').  This 
note  explains  that  Abiathar  had  brought  the  ephod  with  him  when 
he  fled  to  David,  which  he  did  while  the  latter  was  stiil  at  Adullam, 


I   SAMUEL  23.  6-13.     M  155 

and  his  men  went  to  Keilah,  and  fought  with  the  PhiHs- 
tines,  and  brought  away  their  cattle,  and  slew  them  with 
a  great  slaughter.  So  David  saved  the  inhabitants  of 
Keilah. 

And   it   came   to   pass,    when   Abiathar   the    son   of  6 
Ahimelech  fled  to  David  to  Keilah,  that  he  came  down 
with  an  ephod  in  his  hand.     And  it  was  told  Saul  that  7 
David  was  come  to  Keilah.     And  Saul  said,  God  hath 
delivered  him  into  mine  hand ;   for  he  is  shut  in,  by 
entering  into  a  town  that   hath  gates  and  bars.     And  8 
Saul  summoned  all  the  people  to  w^ar,  to  go  down  to 
Keilah,  to  besiege  David  and  his  men.     And  David  knew  9 
that  Saul  devised  mischief  against  him ;  and  he  said  to 
Abiathar  the  priest,  Bring  hither  the  ephod.     Then  said  10 
David,  O  Lord,  the  God  of  Israel,  thy  servant  hath 
surely  heard  that  Saul  seeketh  to  come  to  Keilah,  to 
destroy  the  city  for  my  sake.     Will  the  men  of  Keilah  n 
deliver  me  up  into  his  hand  ?  will  Saul  come  down,  as 
thy  servant  hath  heard  ?   O  Lord,  the  God  of  Israel,  I 
beseech  thee,  tell  thy  servant.     And  the  Lord  said.  He 
will  come  down.     Then  said  David,  Will  the  men  of  12 
Keilah  deliver  up  me  and  my  men  into  the   hand  of 
Saul?  And  the  Lord  said.  They  will  deliver  thee  up. 
Then  David  and  his  men,  which  were  about  six  hundred,  13 
arose  and  departed  out  of  Keilah,  and  went  whithersoever 


xxiii.  7-13.     Saul  plans  to  entrap  David  at  Keilah. 

11.  In  the  present  text  the  first  querj''  has  inadvertently  come 
in  from  the  following  verse.  David's  first  question  to  the  oracle 
was:  'Will  Saul  come  down?'  Only  when  this  question  was 
answered  in  the  affirmative  was  the  other  in  place. 

13.  about  six  hundred.  David's  following  has  considerably 
increased  in  the  presumably  short  interval  since  xxii.  2.  The 
numbers  henceforth  remain  stationary  (xxv.  13,  xxvii.  2). 

and  went  whithersoever  they  could  g-o  :  rather,  '  they  went 
whithersoever  they  went,'  a  Semitic  idiom  '  employed  where  either 


156  I   SAMUEL  23.  14-17.     MT 

they  could  go.  And  it  was  told  Saul  that  David  was 
escaped  from  Keilah  ;  and  he  forbare  to  go  forth. 

14  And  David  abode  in  the  wilderness  in  the  strong  holds, 
and  remained  in  the  hill  country  in  the  wilderness  of  Ziph. 
And  Saul  sought  him  every  day,  but  God  delivered  him 

15  not  into  his  hand.  [T]  And  David  saw  that  Saul  was 
come  out  to  seek  his  life  :  and  David  was  in  the  wilder- 

16  ness  of  Ziph  in  the  wood.  And  Jonathan  Saul's  son 
arose,  and  went  to  David  into  the  wood,  and  strengthened 

17  his  hand  in  God.  And  he  said  unto  him,  Fear  not :  for 
the  hand  of  Saul  my  father  shall  not  find  thee  ;  and  thou 
shalt  be  king  over  Israel,  and  I  shall  be  next  unto  thee  ; 

the  means  or  the  desire  to  be  more  explicit  does  not  exist ' 
(Driver).  Cf.  2  Sam.  xv.  20  ;  i  Kings  viii.  i,  &c.  The  phrase 
aptly  describes  the  hand-to-mouth  life  of  the  highland  freebooter, 
here  to-day  and  away  to-morrow. 

14.  A  somewhat  overloaded  summary  of  David's  wanderings 
subsequent  to  the  relief  of  Keilah.  His  brush  with  the  Philistines 
had  now  made  AduUam,  which  lay  on  their  frontier,  too  hot  for 
him,  a  fact  which  throws  the  ingratitude  of  the  men  of  Keilah 
into  strong  relief. 

xxiii.  15-18.  David  and  Jonathan  renew  their  covenant  of  friendship 
(perhaps  from  the  same  hand  as  xx.  12  ff.;  see  below). 

15.  And  David  saw,  &c.  :  read,  by  a  slight  change,  'And  David 
was  afraid  because  Saul,'  &c.,  as  implied  in  verses  16  f. 

the  wilderness  of  Ziph  stretched  north-east  of  Ziph,  the 
modern  Tell  Zz/^about  four  miles  south  by  east  of  Hebron — 
towards  the  Dead  Sea. 

in  the  wood:  read  here  and  verses  18  f.  'in  Horesh,'  as 
margin,  or  better,  'in  Horeshah,'  perhaps  the  modern  Horclsa 
(Conder),  to  the  south-east  of  Ziph.  A  graphic  description  of  this 
region,  in  which  lay  '  Maon,  Ziph  and  the  Judaean  Carmel,  with  the 
farms  of  Nabal  on  which  David  and  his  men,  like  the  Bedouin  of 
to-day,  levied  blackmail,'  will  be  found  in  G.  A.  Smith's  Hist. 
Geog.,  306  f. 

1*7.  thou  Shalt  be  kiugf  over  Israel,  &c.  Jonathan  here  gives 
definite  expression  to  the  conviction  which  v/e  found  to  underlj' 
XX.  14  ff.  With  characteristic  self-sacrifice  he  is  content  to  claim 
the  second  place.  Unfortunately  it  is  extremely  doubtful  if  these 
anticipations  of  David's  succession  can  be  historically  substantiated. 
To  the  critical  historian  they  appear  rather  as  the  unconscious 


I    SAMUEL  23.  18-2.'.     T  157 

and  that  also  Saul  my  father  knoweth.     And  they  two  18 
made  a  covenant  before  the  Lord  :  and  David  abode  in 
the  wood,  and  Jonathan  went  to  his  house.     Then  came  19 
up  the  Ziphites   to  Saul   to   Gibeah,  saying,  Doth  not 
David  hide  himself  with  us  in  the  strong  holds  in  the 
wood,  in  the  hill  of  Hachilah,  which  is  on  the  south  of 
the  desert  ?   Now  therefore,  O  king,  come  down,  accord-  20 
ing  to  all  the  desire  of  thy  soul  to  come  down ;  and  our 
part  shall  be  to  deliver  him  up  into  the  king's  hand. 
And  Saul  said,  Blessed  be  ye  of  the  Lord  ;  for  ye  have  21 
had  compassion  on  me.     Go,  I  pray  you,  make  yet  more  22 
sure,  and  know  and  see  his  place  where  his  haunt  is,  a/id 

creation  of  a  later  generation,  which  loved  thus  to  find  anticipated 
the  future  of  its  favourite  hero.     Cf.  xxiv.  20. 

xxiii.  19 — xxiv.  22.  David  pursued  by  Saul,  whose  life  he  spares, 
'Perhaps  in  the  whole  O.T..' remarks  Cornill  {Einleituiig,  114), 
*  there  is  no  more  significant  example  of  a  doublet  than  xxiii.  19 — 
xxiv.  23  compared  with  xxvi,  in  all  essential  points  the  same  story, 
only  in  other  words  and  with  a  somewhat  different  setting.'  That 
we  have  here  two  parallel  versions  of  the  same  incident  is  the  all 
but  unanimous  verdict  of  modern  scholars.  The  only  question  is 
as  to  which  of  the  two  is  the  older  and  therefore  presumably 
the  more  accurate  reflection  of  the  actual  facts.  The  balance  of 
probability,  in  the  opinion  of  most,  is  in  favour  of  ch.  xxvi.  The 
evidence  has  been  clearly  and  succinctl}'  stated  by  Lohr  {Samuel, 
xlv)  thus  :  {a)  the  precise  statement  as  to  David's  companions  in 
xxvi.  6  compared  with  the  indefiniteness  of  '  David  and  his  men ' 
in  xxiv.  3  f, ;  (6)  the  manner  in  which  Saul  falls  into  David's  hands 
(cf.  xxvi.  7ff.,  with  its  savour  of  ancient  heroism,  with  xxiv.  3)  ; 
(c)  the  antique  religious  conception  of  xxvi.  19,  over  against  which 
may  be  set  the  content  of  xxiv.  20  f.  suggesting  afiinity  with  such 
later  passages  as  xx.  15  f.,  xxiii.  17,  &c.  See  also  on  xxiv.  16  ff. 
below.  A  list  of  the  more  striking  resemblances  between  the  two 
narratives  is  given  by  Driver,  LOT.^,  181.  To  M,  therefore,  we 
shall  assign  ch.  xxvi,  to  T  the  section  now  before  us. 

19.  Cf  the  parallel  introduction  xxvi.  i.  The  verse  seems 
overloaded  at  the  end,  and  probably  ended  with  '  in  Horeshah ' 
(R.V.  'the  wood,'  see  verse  15%  The  rest  has  come  in  from 
xxvi.  I,  where  see  notes. 

22.  know  . , .  where  his  haunt  is.    A  probable  emendation  (sec 


iS8  I    SAMUEL   23.  23-29.     T 

who  hath  seen  him  there  :  for  it  is  told  me  that  he  dealeth 

23  very  subtilly.  See  therefore,  and  take  knowledge  of  all 
the  lurking  places  where  he  hideth  himself,  and  come  ye 
again  to  me  of  a  certainty,  and  I  will  go  with  you :  and 
it  shall  come  to  pass,  if  he  be  in  the  land,  that  I  will 

24  search  him  out  among  all  the  thousands  of  Judah.  And 
they  arose,  and  went  to  Ziph  before  Saul :  but  David 
and  his  men  were  in  the  wilderness  of  Maon,   in  the 

25  Arabah  on  the  south  of  the  desert.  And  Saul  and  his 
men  went  to  seek  him.  And  they  told  David :  w^here- 
fore  he  came  down  to  the  rock,  and  abode  in  the 
wilderness  of  Maon.      And  when  Saul  heard  fka^y  lie 

26  pursued  after  David  in  the  wilderness  of  Maon.  And 
Saul  went  on  this  side  of  the  mountain,  and  David  and 
his  men  on  that  side  of  the  mountain  :  and  David  made 
haste  to  get  away  for  fear  of  Saul ;  for  Saul  and  his  men 
compassed  David  and  his  men  round  about  to  take  them. 

27  But  there  came  a  messenger  unto  Saul,  saying,  Haste 
thee,  and  come ;  for  the  Philistines  have  made  a  raid  upon 

as  the  land.  So  Saul  returned  from  pursuing  after  David, 
and  w^ent  against  the  Philistines  :    therefore  they  called 

39  that  place  Sela-hammahlekoth.  And  David  went  up  from 
thence,  and  dwelt  in  the  strong  holds  of  En-gedi. 

Driver)  gives  the  more  grapiiic  reading  :    '  ascertain  and  mark 
where  his  fleeting  foot  may  be'  (cf.  margin). 

24.  the  wilderness  of  Maon  lies  east  of  the  modern  Main 
(a  place  a  Httle  bej-ond  Carmel  and  about  four  miles  south  of  Ziph^, 
and  is  here  described  as  in  the  Arahah  on  the  south  of  the 
desert.  The  Arabah  is  the  standing  designation  of  '  the  deep 
valley  running  north  and  south  of  the  Dead  Sea'  (Deut.  i.  i, 
Revisers'  note). 

25.  to  the  rock,  and  ahode,  &c.  :  read,  with  LXX,  'to  the  rock 
which  is  in  the  wilderness  of  Maon.'  David  was  already  abiding 
there  (verse  24).  The  rock  is  doubtless  the  same  that  we  meet 
with  again  in  verse  28. 

29.  En-gedi :    '  kid's  fountain,'  the  well-known  oasis  on  the 


I   SAMUEL  24.  1-6.     T  159 

And  it  came  to  pass,  when  Saul  was  returned  from  24 
following  the  Philistines,  that  it  was  told  him,  saying, 
Behold,  David  is  in  the  wilderness  of  En-gedi.     Then  2 
Saul  took  three  thousand  chosen  men  out  of  all  Israel,  and 
went  to  seek  David  and  his  men  upon  the  rocks  of  the 
wild  goats.     And  he  came  to  the  sheepcotes  by  the  way,  3 
where  was  a  cave ;  and  Saul  went  in  to  cover  his  feet. 
Now  David  and  his  men  were  abiding  in  the  innermost 
parts  of  the  cave.     And  the  men  of  David  said  unto  him,  4 
Behold,    the  day  of  which  the  Lord  said  unto  thee, 
Behold,  I  will  deliver  thine  enemy  into  thine  hand,  and 
thou  shalt  do  to  him  as  it  shall  seem  good  unto  thee, 
'llien  David  arose,  and  cut  off  the  skirt  of  Saul's  robe 
privily.      And  it  came  to  pass  afterward,  that  David's  5 
heart  smote  him,   because  he  had  cut  off  Saul's  skirt. 
And  he  said  unto  his  men.   The  Lord  forbid  that  I  6 
should  do  this  thing  unto  my  lord,  the  Lord's  anointed, 
to  put  forth  mine  hand  against  him,  seeing  he  is  the 


western  shore  of  the  Dead  Sea,  which  still  bears  the  name  (Ain 
Jtdv). 

xxiv.  3.  'The  sheepfolds  to  which  Saul  came  were  possibly 
caves  with  a  rough  stone  wall  about  the  entrance,  such  as  are  still 
found  in  the  Wilderness  of  Judah  '  (H.  P.  Smith).  Into  one  such 
cave  Saul  enters  alone  to  relieve  himself;  the  same  euphemism  is 
found  in  Judges  iii.  24. 

4-7.  There  is  a  want  of  logical  sequence  in  these  verses 
(note,  for  example,  that  David's  asseveration  in  verse  6  comes  too 
late)  which  has  led  to  a  generally  accepted  transposition  in  this 
order  :  4^,  6,  7%  4^^,  5,  -7^  So  read,  the  passage  represents 
David's  men  as  urging  him,  on  the  strength  of  an  unrecorded 
oracle,  to  take  the  persecutor's  life  forthwith  (4");  David  is 
indignant  at  the  suggestion  of  such  an  act  of  sacrilege  (6,  7*^^;  but 
in  order  to  have  tangible  proof  that  he  had  really  had  the  king  in 
his  power,  he  creeps  stealthily  forward  and  cuts  off  the  skirt  of  his 
robe  (4'').  Over  even  this  milder  form  of  Icse-niajeste  David  is 
conscience-stricken  (5),  and  Saul  is  quietly  allowed  to  rejoin 
his  men. 

6.  the  LORD'S  anointed:  see  on  x.  i. 


i6o  I   SAMUEL   24.  7-14.     T 

7  Lord's  anointed.  So  David  checked  his  men  with  these 
words,  and  suffered  them  not  to  rise  against  Saul.  And 
Saul  rose  up  out  of  the  cave,  and  went  on  his  way, 

8  David  also  arose  afterward,  and  went  out  of  the  cave,  and 
cried  after  Saul,  saying.  My  lord  the  king.  And  when 
Saul  looked  behind  him,  David  bowed  with  his  face  to 

9  the  earth,  and  did  obeisance.  And  David  said  to  Saul, 
Wherefore    hearkenest    thou    to   men's    words,    saying, 

10  Behold,  David  seeketh  thy  hurt?  Behold,  this  day 
thine  eyes  have  seen  how  that  the  Lord  had  delivered 
thee  to-day  into  mine  hand  in  the  cave  :  and  some  bade 
me  kill  thee :  but  mine  eye  spared  thee ;  and  I  said, 
I  will  not  put  forth  mine  hand  against  my  lord ;  for  he 

11  is  the  Lord's  anointed.  Moreover,  my  father,  see,  yea, 
see  the  skirt  of  thy  robe  in  my  hand  :  for  in  that  I  cut 
off  the  skirt  of  thy  robe,  and  killed  thee  not,  know  thou 
and  see  that  there  is  neither  evil  nor  transgression  in 
mine  hand,  and  I  have  not  sinned  against  thee,  though 

12  thou  huntest  after  my  soul  to  take  it.  The  Lord  judge 
between  me  and  thee,  and  the  Lord  avenge  me  of  thee  : 

13  but  mine  hand  shall  not  be  upon  thee.  As  saith  the 
proverb  of  the  ancients,  Out  of  the  wicked  cometh  forth 
wickedness  :    but  mine  hand  shall  not  be  upon  thee. 

14  After  whom  is  the  king  of  Israel  come  out  ?  after 
whom  dost  thou  pursue  ?    after  a  dead  dog,  after  a  flea. 

9  ff.  David  protests  and  proves  his  innocence  of  all  desire  to 
seek  the  king's  hurt.  Nay,  on  the  contrary,  he  has  requited  him 
good  for  evil  (11,  end).  God  Himself  is  Judge  between  them,  and 
to  Him  David  commits  his  cause. 

13.  the  proverb  of  the  ancients  here  put  into  David's  mouth, 
with  its  suggestion  that  SauFs  misdeeds  would  recoil  upon  his  own 
head  (cf.  xxv.  39),  is  so  utterly  at  variance  with  the  fine  spirit 
of  deference  and  magnanimity  which  breathes  through  David's 
previous  remarks,  that  it  is  set  down  by  all  the  commentators  as 
a  marginal  gloss. 


I   SAMUEL  24.  15-.U.     T  161 

The  Lord  therefore  be  judge,  and  give  sentence  between  15 
me  and  thee,  and  see.  and  plead  my  cause,  and  deliver 
me   out   of  thine   hand.     And  it  came  to  pass,  when  16 
David  had  made  an  end  of  speaking  these  words  unto 
Saul,  that  Saul  said,  Is  this  thy  voice,  my  son  David? 
And  Saul  lifted  up  his  voice,  and  wept.     And  he  said  to  17 
David,  Thou  art  more  righteous  than  I  :  for  thou  hast 
rendered  unto  me  good,  whereas  I  have  rendered  unto 
thee  evil.     And  thou  hast  declared  this  day  how  that  18 
thou  hast  dealt  well  with  me  :   forasmuch  as  when  the 
Lord  had  delivered  me  up  into  thine  hand,  thou  killedst 
me  not.     For  if  a  man  find  his  enemy,  will  he  let  him  19 
go  well  away  ?    wherefore  the  Lord  reward  thee  good 
for  that  thou  hast  done  unto  me  this  day.     And  now^,  20 
behold,  I  know  that  thou  shalt  surely  be  king,  and  that 
the  kingdom  of  Israel  shall  be  established  in  thine  hand. 
Swear  now  therefore  unto  me  by  the  Lord,  that  thou  21 


16.  Here  we  have  one  of  the  most  striking  resemblances 
between  the  older  (xxvi.  17)  and  younger  narratives.  Only  in  the 
former,  however,  is  the  query  appropriate,  Saul  there  recognizing 
David  in  the  darkness  by  his  voice.  There,  too,  the  appropriate 
reply  is  given. 

17  fF.  Saul  is  touched,  even  to  tears,  by  David's  magnanimous 
conduct,  almost  without  a  parallel  in  that  rude  age.  His  native 
generosity,  which  jealousy  working  on  a  mind  diseased  had  over- 
laid, is  evoked,  and  prompts  him  to  a  full  acknowledgement  of  the 
higher  moral  ideal  of  David,  whom  he  prays  that  God  may  reward. 
This  representation,  however,  just  because  of  its  lofty  tone,  seems 
less  original  than  its  parallel  in  xxvi.  21,  25. 

18.  thou  hast  declared:  read,  by  inserting  one  letter,  'this 
day  thou  hast  put  the  crown  upon  thy  kind  dealing  with  me' 
(cf.  Gen.  xix.  19). 

20  f.  Saul  acknowledges  David  as  destined  to  succeed  him  on 
the  throne  of  Israel,  and  implores  his  clemency  as  Jonathan  had 
done  before  (xx.  14  ft'.).  The  doubtful  historicity  of  this  constant 
trait  of  our  younger  sources  has  been  already  commented  upon 
(see  on  xxiii.  17).  Its  expression  here  certainly  has  the  air  of 
a  later  interpretation  of  the  more  indefinite  parallel,  xxvi.  25. 

M 


i6z  I    SAMUEL  24.  22—25.  5.     TM 

wilt  not  cut  off  my  seed  after  me,  and  that  thou  wilt  not 
22  destroy  my  name  out  of  my  father's  house.     And  David 
sware  unto  Saul.     And  Saul  went  home  ;  but  David  and 
his  men  gat  them  up  unto  the  hold. 

25  [M]  And  Samuel  died ;  and  all  Israel  gathered  them- 
selves together,  and  lamented  him,  and  buried  him  in  his 
house  at  Ram  ah.  And  David  arose,  and  went  down  to 
the  wilderness  of  Paran. 
a  And  there  was  a  man  in  Maon,  whose  possessions 
were  in  Carmel ;  and  the  man  was  very  great,  and  he 
had  three  thousand  sheep,  and  a  thou-sand  goats :  and 

3  he  was  shearing  his  sheep  in  Carmel.  Now  the  name  of  the 
man  was  Nabal ;  and  the  name  of  his  wife  Abigail :  and 
the  woman  was  of  good  understanding,  and  of  a  beautiful 
countenance  :  but  the  man  was  churlish  and  evil  in  his 

4  doings  ;  and  he  was  of  the  house  of  Caleb.  And  David 
heard  in  the  wilderness  that  Nabal  did  shear  his  sheep. 

5  And  David  sent  ten  young  men,  and  David  said  unto 

(c)  XXV.  1-44.     David  and  Abigail. 

This  chapter  is  universally  regarded  as  an  extract  from  our 
oldest  source,  and  as  a  masterpiece  of  Hebrew  narrative.  It  is 
prefaced  by  an  editorial  note  recording  the  death  of  Samuel  (of. 
xxviii.  3),  and  his  burial,  amid  universal  lamentation,  within  the 
precincts  of  his  house  in  Ramah. 

1.  the  wilderness  of  Paran :  read  with  LXX  (B),  and  as  the 
context  requires,  *  the  wilderness  of  Maon '  (xxiii.  24  ;  see  also 
note  on  xxiii.  15).  The  former,  the  present  desert  of  Et-tik  and 
the  scene  of  the  wanderings  between  Sinai  and  Kadesh-barnea, 
lay  too  far  to  the  south. 

2.  Carmel ;  now  Kurmul,  between  Ziph  and  Maon,  about 
a  mile  to  the  north  of  the  latter  (cf.  xv.  12,  xxx.  29,  LXX).  The 
sheep-shearing  was  from  the  earliest  period  a  time  of  festivity  and 
generous  hospitality  (see  2  Sam.  xiii.  23").  The  brief  but  pregnant 
characterization  which  follows — the  work  of  a  literary  artist — gives 
the  key  to  the  subsequent  denouement. 

3.  he  was  of  the  house  of  Caleb  :  lit.  ^  a  Calebite '  ;  the  clan  of 
the  Calebites  had  occupied  the  district  of  which  Hebron  was  the 
centre  since  the  conquest  (Judges  i.  20). 


I    SAMUEL  25.  6-12.     M  163 

the  young  men,  Get  you  up  to  Carmel,  and  go  to  Nabal, 
and  greet  him  in  my  name  :  and  thus  shall  ye  say  to  6 
him  that  liveth  /;/  prospetity,  Peace  be  both  unto  thee, 
and  peace  be  to  thine  house,  and  peace  be  unto  all  that 
thou   hast.     And  now    I    have   heard   that   thou   hast  7 
shearers  :  thy  shepherds  have  now  been  with  us,  and  we 
did  them  no  hurt,  neither  was  there  aught  missing  unto 
them,  all  the  while  they  were  in  Carmel.    Ask  thy  young  8 
men,  and  they  will  tell  thee :  wherefore  let  the  young 
men  find  favour  in  thine  eyes  ;  for  we  come  in  a  good 
day  :  give,  I  pray  thee,  whatsoever  cometh  to  thine  hand, 
unto  thy  servants,  and  to  thy  son  David.     And  when  9 
David's  young  men  came,  they  spake  to  Nabal  according 
to  all  those  words  in  the  name  of  David,  and  ceased. 
And  Nabal  answered  David's  servants,  and  said,  Who  10 
is  David  ?  and  who  is  the  son  of  Jesse  ?  there  be  many 
servants  now  a  days  that  break  away  every  man  from  his 
master.     Shall  I  then  take  my  bread,  and  my  water,  and  1 1 
my  flesh  that  I  have  killed  for  my  shearers,  and  give  it 
unto  men  of  whom  I  know  not  whence  they  be  ?    So  1 2 

6.  The  opening  clause  must  be  emended  :  'and  thus  shall  ye  say 
to  my  brother'  (so  Vulg.,  Wellh.,  Driver,  &c.). 

7f.  David  contrasts  the  strict  discipline  maintained  by  him 
with  the  usual  licence  of  similar  roving  bands,  and  asks  that  some 
acknowledgement  of  this  should  be  made  by  the  wealthy  farmer. 
This  species  of  blackmail  is  regularly  levied  at  the  present  day  by 
the  Bedouin  living  on  the  borders  of  the  desert  and  the  cultivated 
land.  In  return  they  guarantee  the  protection  of  life  and  property 
(cf.  verse  21)  in  these  notoriously  insecure  districts. 

8.  we  come  in  a  £food  day :  a  literal  rendering  of  the  Hebrew 
term  for  'a  feast  day'  (Esther  viii.  17,  ix.  22,  and  the  Mishna 
literature  passmi). 

10.  Nabal  shows  his  churlishness  by  insulting  David  and  his  men, 
suggesting  that  the  former  is  a  nobody,  and  the  latter  a  band  of 
runaway  slaves. 

11.  my  water:  read,  with  LXX,  *  my  wine,'  as  more  appro- 
priate to  a  day  of  feasting, 

M    2 


i64  I    SAMUEL  25.  1.^-19.     M 

David's  young  men  turned  on  their  way,  and  went  back, 
and  came  and  told  him  according  to  all  these  words. 

13  And  David  said  unto  his  men,  Gird  ye  on  every  man 
his  sword.  And  they  girded  on  every  man  his  sword  ; 
and  David  also  girded  on  his  sword  :  and  there  went  up 
after  David  about  four  hundred  men ;  and  two  hundred 

14  abode  by  the  stuff.  But  one  of  the  young  men  told 
Abigail,  Nabal's  wife,  saying,  Behold,  David  sent  messen- 
gers out  of  the  wilderness  to  salute  our  master ;  and  he 

15  flew  upon  them.  But  the  men  were  very  good  unto  us, 
and  we  were  not  hurt,  neither  missed  we  any  thing,  as 
long  as  we  were  conversant  with  them,  when  we  were  in 

16  the  fields :  they  were  a  wall  unto  us  both  by  night  and 
by  day,  all  the  while  we  were  with  them  keeping  the 

17  sheep.  Now  therefore  know  and  consider  what  thou 
wilt  do ;  for  evil  is  determined  against  our  master,  and 
against  all  his  house  :  for  he  is  such  a  son  of  Belial,  that 

18  one  cannot  speak  to  him.  Then  Abigail  made  haste, 
and  took  two  hundred  loaves,  and  two  bottles  of  wine, 
and  five  sheep  ready  dressed,  and  five  measures  of 
parched  corn,  and  an  hundred  clusters  of  raisins,  and  two 

19  hundred  cakes  of  figs,  and  laid  them  on  asses.  And  she 
said  unto  her  young  men.  Go  on  before  me;  behold, 

15  f.  Nabal's  shepherds  testify  to  the  excellence  of  David's 
discipline,  and  to  the  protection  afforded  them  by  his  men. 

17.  such  a  son  of  Belial:  see  on  i.  16.  The  shepherds' 
estimate  of  their  master's  character  is  confirmed  by  one  still  better 
qualified  to  judge,  see  verse  25. 

18  ff.  By  her  intelligent  grasp  of  the  situation,  by  her  prompt 
action  and  generous  gifts,  and  by  her  conciliatory  and  diplomatic 
address,  Abigail  more  than  justifies  the  author's  description  of  her 
as  'a  woman  of  good  understanding'  (verse  3\ 

five  measures  of  parched  corn, :  rather  more  than  a  bushel 
and  a  half,  the  '  measure,'  in  Hebrew  seah,  being  the  third  part  of 
the  ephah  or  bushel  (Hastings'  DB.,  iv.  910 ff.).  For  the  clusters 
of  raisins — the  '  dried  grapes '  of  Num.  vi.  3 — and  the  cakes  of 
fig's,  see  the  writer's  article  '  Fruit.'  in  EBi.,  ii.  1568,  1570. 


I   SAMUEL  25.  30-26.     M  165 

I  come  after  you.     But  she  told  not  her  husband  Nabal. 
And  it  was  so,  as  she  rode  on  her  ass,  and  came  down  20 
by  the  covert  of  the  mountain,  that,  behold,  David  and 
his  men  came  down  against  her ;  and  she  met  them. 
Now  David  had  said.  Surely  in  vain  have  I  kept  all  that  21 
this  fellow  hath  in  the  wilderness,  so  that  nothing  was 
missed  of  all  that  pertained  unto  him :  and  he  hath  re- 
turned me  evil  for  good.     God  do  so  unto  the  enemies  22 
of  David,  and  more  also,  if  I  leave  of  all  that  pertain  to 
him  by  the  morning  light  so  much  as  one  man  child. 
And  when  Abigail  saw  David,  she  hasted,  and  lighted  23 
off  her  ass,  and  fell  before  David  on  her  face,  and  bowed 
herself  to  the  ground.     And  she  fell  at  his  feet,  and  said,  24 
Upon  me,  my  lord,  upon  me  be  the  iniquity :  and  let 
thine  handmaid,  I  pray  thee,  speak  in  thine  ears,  and 
hear  thou  the  words  of  thine  handmaid.     Let  not  my  25 
lord,  I  pray  thee,  regard  this  man  of  Belial,  even  Nabal : 
for  as  his  name  is,  so  is  he  ;  Nabal  is  his  name,  and  folly 
is  with  him  :  but  I  thine  handmaid  saw  not  the  young 
men  of  my  lord,  whom  thou  didst  send.    Now  therefore,  26 

20.  by  the  covert  of  the  mountain:  the  original  seems  to 
imply  that  Abigail  was  concealed  from  the  view  of  David  and  his 
men  approaching  from  some  neighbouring  hill-top,  until  they  all 
meet  suddenly  at  the  foot.  This  is  in  keeping  with  the  dramatic 
instincts  of  the  narrator,  who  represents  David  as  at  the  moment 
vowing  the  direst  vengeance  on  Nabal  and  his  house. 

22.  Read  :  ^  God  do  so  unto  Da\'id,'  see  on  2  Sam.  xii.  14. 

23  f.  Abigail  omits  nothing  of  the  punctilious  courtesy  of  the  East. 
Budde  calls  attention  to  the  intentional  conciseness  of  the  style  at 
this  point,  in  contrast  to  the  somewhat  'turgid  eloquence'  that 
follows.  *  Everywhere  in  the  O.  T.  (he  adds),  women's  speeches 
are  distinguished  by  this  characteristic'!  Cf.  a  Sam.  xiv.  i2fF. 

25.  Fool  (see  R.  V.  marg.)  is  his  name,  and  folly  is  with  him 
reproduces  the  play  upon  tlie  name  Nabal,  although  our  *  fool '  is 
not  the  precise  equivalent  of  the  Hebrew  term,  which  suggests 
one  who  has  no  regard  for  God  or  man.  Cf.  the  definition  given 
in  Isa.  xxxii.  5f.  (note  marg.),  and  the  note  on  2  Sam.  xiii.  12  f. 


i66  I   SAMUEL  25.  27-50.     M 

my  lord,  as  the  Lord  liveth,  and  as  thy  soul  liveth, 
seeing  the  Lord  hath  withholden  thee  from  bloodguilti- 
ness,  and  from  avenging  thyself  with  thine  own  hand,  now 
therefore  let  thine  enemies,  and  them  that  seek  evil  to 

3^  my  lord,  be  as  Nabal.  And  now  this  present  which  thy 
servant  hath  brought  unto  my  lord,  let  it  be  given  unto 

^S  the  young  men  that  follow  my  lord.  Forgive,  I  pray 
thee,  the  trespass  of  thine  handmaid  :  for  the  Lord  will 
certainly  make  my  lord  a  sure  house,  because  my  lord 
fighteth  the  battles  of  the  Lord  ;  and  evil  shall  not  be 

2y  found  in  thee  all  thy  days.  And  though  man  be  risen 
up  to  pursue  thee,  and  to  seek  thy  soul,  yet  the  soul  of 
my  lord  shall  be  bound  in  the  bundle  of  life  with  the 
Lord  thy  God ;  and  the  souls  of  thine  enemies,  them 

30  shall  he  sling  out,  as  from  the  hollow  of  a  sling.  And  it 
shall  come  to  pass,  when  the  Lord  shall  have  done  to 
my  lord  according  to  all  the  good  that  he  hath  spoken 
concerning  thee,  and  shall  have  appointed  thee  prince 


26.  let  thine  enemies  ...  be  as  I7abal :  this  clause  seems  to 
imply — for  the  author's  meaning  is  not  clear — a  prevision  on 
Abigail's  part  of  Nabal's  impending  fate  (verse  38),  the  underlying 
thought  being  that  vengeance  should  be  left  in  the  hand  of  God. 

28.  a  sure  house  :  see  on  ii.  35  ;  the  battles  of  the  LORD  : 
see  on  xviii.  17. 

29.  Since  the  rest  of  Abigail's  good  wishes  are  all  for  the  future, 
it  is  now^  usual  to  read  :  '  and  should  a  man  rise  up  .  .  .  may  the 
life  of  my  lord  be  bound  in  the  bundle  of  the  living  (R.  V.  marg.) 
with  (i.e.  under  the  protection  of)  Yahweh  thy  God.'  This 
beautiful  and  tender  prayer  has  long  been  applied  to  the  life 
beyond  the  grave,  and  its  initial  letters  are  to-day  found  on  almost 
every  Jewish  tombstone.  But  God  had  not  yet  revealed  'the 
eternal  hope  '  to  His  people,  and  the  wish  must  be  interpreted  of 
the  earthly  life  of  David,  which  Abigail  prays  may  be  prolonged 
under  the  Divine  protection.  The  figure  is  that  of  a  precious  jewel 
carefully  tied  up  (cf.  Gen.  xlii.  35)  and  placed  in  safe  keeping. 
The  converse  follows  in  the  prayer  that  the  lives  of  David's 
enemies  may  be  cast  away  like  the  stones  from  a  sling. 


I    SAMUEL  25.  31-37.     M  167 

over  Israel ;  that  this  shall  be  no  grief  unto  thee,  nor  31 
offence  of  heart  unto  my  lord,  either  that  thou  hast  shed 
blood  causeless,  or  that  my  lord  hath  avenged  himself: 
and  when  the  Lord  shall  have  dealt  well  with  my  lord, 
then  remember  thine  handmaid.     And  David  said  to  32 
Abigail,  Blessed  be  the  Lord,  the  God  of  Israel,  which 
sent  thee  this  day  to  meet  me :   and  blessed  be  thy  33 
wisdom,  and  blessed  be  thou,  which  hast  kept  me  this 
day  from  bloodguiltiness,  and  from  avenging  myself  with 
mine  own  hand.     For  in  very  deed,  as  the  Lord,  the  34 
God  of  Israel,  liveth,  which  hath  withholden  me  from 
hurting  thee,  except  thou  hadst  hasted  and  come  to  meet 
me,  surely  there  had  not  been  left  unto  Nabal  by  the 
morning  light  so  much  as  one  man  child.     So  David  35 
received  of  her  hand  that  which  she  had  brought  him  : 
and  he  said  unto  her,  Go  up  in  peace  to  thine  house ; 
see,  I  have  hearkened  to  thy  voice,  and  have  accepted 
thy  person.     And  Abigail  came  to  Nabal ;  and,  behold,  3^ 
he  held  a  feast  in  his  house,  like  the  feast  of  a  king  ; 
and  Nabal's  heart  was  merry  within  him,  for  he  was  very 
drunken  :  wherefore  she  told  him  nothing,  less  or  more, 
until  the  morning  light.     And  it  came  to  pass  in  the  37 
morning,  when  the  wine  was  gone  out  of  Nabal,  that  his 
wife  told  him  these  things,  and  his  heart  died  within  him, 

31.  A  skilful  appeal  to  David's  peace  of  conscience.  In  the 
happier  future  David  will  have  cause  to  remember  Abigail  and 
her  counsel  with  gratitude. 

nor  offence  (Jif.  stumbling-block)  of  heart :  no  ground  for 
remorse.  In  the  O.  T.  the  heart  is  the  seat  of  conscience, 
cf.  xxiv.  5. 

32  ff.  David  acknowledges  that  Abigail  has  been  a  messenger  of 
God,  sent  lo  save  him  from  the  guilt  of  blood. 

35.  I  have  accepted  thy  person:  lit.  '  have  lifted  up  thy  face,' 
here  and  Gen.  xix.  21  equivalent  to  'I  have  granted  thy  request.* 

36.  Abigail's  silence  in  the  circumstances  is  one  more  proof 
of  her  discretion  (,verse  33,  marg.). 


i68  I   SAMUEL  25.  38—26.  1.     M. 

38  and  he  became  as  a  stone.  And  it  came  to  pass  about 
ten  days  after,  that  the  Lord  smote  Nabal,  that  he  died. 

39  And  when  David  heard  that  Nabal  was  dead,  he  said, 
Blessed  be  the  Lord,  that  hath  pleaded  the  cause  of  my 
reproach  from  the  hand  of  Nabal,  and  hath  kept  back 
his  servant  from  evil :  and  the  evil-doing  of  Nabal  hath 
the  Lord  returned  upon  his  own  head.  And  David 
sent  and  spake  concerning  Abigail,  to  take  her  to  him 

40  to  wife.  And  when  the  servants  of  David  were  come  to 
Abigail  to  Carmel,  they  spake  unto  her,  saying,  David 
hath  sent  us  unto  thee,  to  take  thee  to  him  to  wife. 

41  And  she  arose,  and  bowed  herself  with  her  face  to  the 
earth,  and  said.  Behold,  thine  handmaid  is  a  servant  to 

42  wash  the  feet  of  the  servants  of  my  lord.  And  Abigail 
hasted,  and  arose,  and  rode  upon  an  ass,  with  five 
damsels  of  hers  that  followed  her;  and  she  went  after 

43  the  messengers  of  David,  and  became  his  wife.  David 
also  took  Ahinoam  of  Jezreel ;  and  they  became  both  of 

44  them  his  wives.  Now  Saul  had  given  Michal  his 
daughter,  David's  wife,  to  Palti  the  son  of  Laish,  which 
was  of  Gallim. 

26      And  the  Ziphites  came  unto  Saul  to  Gibeah,  saying, 

39.  David  sent  and  spake  concerningf  Abigrail:  i.e.  sent  her 
an  offer  of  marriage,  as  in  the  Revisers'  reference,  Cant.  viii.  8. 
Such,  to  us  unseemly,  haste  was  not  repugnant  to  the  social  code 
of  those  days.  It  is  to  be  assumed,  however,  that  a  short  interval 
elapsed,  as  in  the  case  of  Bath-sheba  (2  Sam.  xi.  27). 

43.  Ahinoam  of  Jezreel,  a  town  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Ziph  and  Maon,  became  the  mother  of  David's  eldest  son,  Amnon 
(2  Sam.  iii.  2). 

44.  Falti:  a  shorter  form  of  Paltiel  (2  Sam.  iii.  15").  A  place 
named  Gallim  is  mentioned  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Anathoth  in 
Benjamin  (Isa.  x.  30). 

{d)  xxvi.  An  earlier  version  of  the  Ziphites'  treadiery  and 
David's  magnanimity  to  Saul. 

The  arguments  for  the  priority  of  this  account  over  that  already 


I    SAMUEL  26.  2-6.     M  169 

Doth  not  David  hide  himself  in  the  hill  of  Hachilah, 
which  is  before  the  desert  ?   Then  Saul  arose,  and  went  2 
down  to  the  wilderness  of  Ziph,  having  three  thousand 
chosen  men  of  Israel  with  him,  to  seek  David  in  the 
wilderness  of  Ziph.     And  Saul  pitched  in  the  hill  of  3 
Hachilah,  which  is  before  the  desert,  by  the  way.     But 
David  abode  in  the  wilderness,  and  he  saw  that  Saul 
came  after  him  into  the  wilderness.     David  therefore  4 
sent  out  spies,  and  understood  that  Saul  was  come  of 
a  certainty.     And  David  arose,  and  came  to  the  place  5 
where  Saul  had  pitched :  and  David  beheld  the  place 
where  Saul  lay,  and  Abner  the  son  of  Ner,  the  captain  of 
bis  host :  and  Saul  lay  within  the  place  of  the  wagons, 
and  the  people  pitched  round  about  him.    Then  answered  6 
David  and  said  to  Ahimelech  the  Hittite,  and  to  Abishai 
the  son  of  Zeruiah,  brother  to  Joab,  saying.  Who  will  go 

given  in  ch.  xxivhave  been  indicated  on  p.  157.  No  one  will  assert 
that  David  may  not  have  spared  Saul's  life  on  a  previous  occasion, 
but  if  so,  it  is  passing  strange  that  there  is  no  allusion  here  on  the 
part  of  either  Saul  or  David  to  the  repetition  of  so  remarkable  an 
incident.  In  view,  therefore,  of  the  well-known  methods  of  the 
Hebrew  historians,  the  easier  explanation  is  that  adopted  by 
almost  all  modern  students,  that  in  these  two  chapters  we  have 
duplicate  versions  of  one  and  the  same  historical  incident. 

1.  the  hill  of  Hachilah  has  been  identified  by  Conder  with 
a  ridge,  El-kolah,  six  miles  east  of  Ziph  and  nearly  halfway  to 
En-gedi.  It  is  here  described  as  'before  Jeshiraon '  (see  marg.), 
that  is,  as  overlooking  the  barren  tract  of  country  between 
the  highlands  of  Judah  and  the  northern  half  of  the  Dead  Sea, 
more  frequently  termed  the  Wilderness  of  Judah. 

4.  of  a  certainty :  the  text  is  corrupt.  The  preposition  *  unto  * 
of  the  original  and  the  context  both  suggest  the  name  of  a  place 
to  which  Saul  had  come  (cf.  marg.). 

5.  within  the  place  of  the  wag'ons  :  see  on  xvii.  20. 

6.  Ahimelech  the  Hittite :  doubtless,  like  the  more  famous 
Uriah,  a  soldier  of  fortune  belonging  to  the  powerful  race  which 
had  their  principal  seats  at  Carchemish  on  the  Euphrates  and 
Kadesh  on  the  Orontes.     See  further  Driver's  Genesis^  228  flf. 

AhiBhai  ...   Joah;    the   first   mention   of  the^^c    'sons  of 


I70  I   SAMUEL   26.   7-12.     M 

down  with  me  to  Saul  to  the  camp?     And  Abishai  said, 

7  I  will  go  down  with  thee.     So  David  and  Abishai  came 

to  the  people  by  night :  and,  behold,  Saul  lay  sleeping 

within  the  place  of  the  wagons,  with  his  spear  stuck  in 

the  ground  at  his  head :  and  Abner  and  the  people  lay 

S  round  about  him.     Then  said  x\bishai  to  David,  God 

hath  delivered  up  thine  enemy  into  thine  hand  this  day : 

now  therefore  let  me  smite  him,  I  pray  thee,  with  the 

spear  to  the  earth  at  one  stroke,  and  I  will  not  smite  him 

9  the  second  time.     And  David  said  to  Abishai,  Destroy 

him  not :  for  who  can  put  forth  his  hand  against  the 

J  o  Lord's  anointed,  and  be  guiltless  ?   And  David  said,  As 

the  Lord  liveth^,  the  Lord  shall  smite  him ;  or  his  day 

shall  come  to  die ;  or  he  shall  go  down  into  battle,  and 

11  perish.  The  Lord  forbid  that  I  should  put  forth  mine 
hand  against  the  Lord's  anointed :  but  now  take,  I  pray 
thee,  the  spear  that  is  at  his  head,  and  the  cruse  of  water, 

12  and  let  us  go.     So  David  took  the  spear  and  the  cruse 

Zeruiah,'  who  with  Asahel  their  brother  figure  so  conspicuously 
in  the  life  of  David.  Zeruiah,  according  to  Chron.  ii.  16,  was 
David's  sister,  and  as  David  was  the  youngest  son  of  a  large 
family,  there  is  nothing  improbable  in  his  nephews  being  about 
his  own  age.  Why  these  redoubtable  warriors  should  always  be 
described  as  the  sons  of  their  mother  remains  a  puzzle.  Their 
father  was  probably  already  in  his  grave  at  Beth-lehem  (2  Sam. 
ii.  32). 

7.  At  the  camping- grounds  of  the  Bedouin  Arabs,  a  spear  stuck 
in  the  ground  outside  the  entrance  distinguishes  the  tent  of  the 
sheikh.  In  Saul's  case  also  the  spear  seems  to  have  been 
a  symbol  of  authority.  It  is  expressly  mentioned  as  being  in  his 
hand  as  he  sat  in  state  on  the  moot-hill  at  Gibeah  (^xxii.  6 ; 
cf,  xviii.  10,  XX.  33). 

8  ff.  With  Abishai's  proposal  and  David's  reply  here  compare 
the  parallel  in  xxiv.  4  ff. 

10.  The  text  of  R.  V.  suggests  three  alternatives,  the  margin 
preferably  two.  In  this  case  God  will  smite  Saul  either  directly 
with  a  sudden  stroke,  as  in  the  case  of  Nabal,  or  indirectly — as 
actually  happened — through  the  hazard  of  battle. 


I   SAMUEL  26.  i^-uj.     M  171 

of  water  from  Saul's  head ;  and  they  gat  them  away,  and 
no  man  saw  it,  nor  knew  it^  neither  did  any  awake  :  for 
they  were  all  asleep  ;   because  a  deep  sleep  from  the 
Lord  was  fallen  upon  them.     Then  David  went  over  13 
to  the  other  side,  and  stood  on  the  top  of  the  mountain 
afar  off;  a  great  space  being  between  them  :  and  David  14 
cried  to  the  people,  and  to  Abner  the  son  of  Ner,  saying, 
Answerest  thou  not,  Abner  ?  Then  Abner  answered  and 
said,  Who  art  thou  that  criest  to  the  king?   And  David  15 
said  to  Abner,  Art  not  thou  a  valiant  man  ?  and  who  is 
like  to  thee  in  Israel  ?  wherefore  then  hast  thou  not  kept 
watch  over  thy  lord  the  king  ?  for  there  came  one  of  the 
people  in  to  destroy  the  king  thy  lord.    This  thing  is  not  16 
good  that  thou  hast  done.     As  the  Lord  liveth,  ye  are 
worthy  to  die,  because  ye  have  not  kept  watch  over  your 
lord,  the  Lord's  anointed.     And  now,  see,  where  the 
king's  spear  is,  and  the  cruse  of  water  that  was  at  his 
head.     And  Saul  knew  David's  voice,  and  said.  Is  this  17 
thy  voice,  my  son  David?   And  David  said,  It  is  my 
voice,  my  lord,  O  king.     And  he  said.  Wherefore  doth  18 
my  lord  pursue  after  his  servant  ?  for  what  have  I  done  ? 
or  what  evil  is  in  mine  hand?  Now  therefore,  I  pray  thee,  19 
let  my  lord  the  king  hear  the  words  of  his  servant.     If 
it  be  the  Lord  that  hath  stirred  thee  up  against  me,  let 


17.  Saui  recognized  David's  voice,  although  it  was  still  too  dark 
to  recognize  his  face  and  figure.  Here,  therefore,  Saul's  query  is 
in  place,  sec  on  xxiv.  16. 

19  f.  Verses  19  and  20  are  of  great  interest  as  throwing  light 
upon  some  aspects  of  religious  belief  among  the  early  Hebrews. 
David  can  account  for  Saul's  persistent  enmity  only  by  one  or 
other  of  two  hypotheses.  Either  it  is  due  to  the  direct  instiga- 
tion of  Yahweh,  in  which  case  an  offended  deity  can  always  be 
placated  by  the  smell  (note  marg.)  of  a  sacrifice,  an  antique 
conception  found  also  in  Gen.  viii.  2r,  or  it  is  the  result  of  the 
influence  upon  Saul  of  some  slandcr-moiigcring  ^children  of  men.' 


172  I   SAMUEL  26.  20-24.     M 

him  accept  an  offering  :  but  if  it  be  the  children  of  men, 
cursed  be  they  before  the  Lord;  for  they  have  driven 
me  out  this  day  that  I  should  not  cleave  unto  the 
inheritance  of  the  Lord,  saying,  Go,  serve  other  gods. 

20  Now  therefore,  let  not  my  blood  fall  to  the  earth  away 
from  the  presence  of  the  Lord  ;  for  the  king  of  Israel  is 
come  out  to  seek  a  flea,  as  when  one  doth  hunt  a  partridge 

2 1  in  the  mountains.  Then  said  Saul,  I  have  sinned :  return, 
my  son  David  :  for  I  will  no  more  do  thee  harm,  because 
my  life  was  precious  in  thine  eyes  this  day :  behold,  I 

22  have  played  the  fool,  and  have  erred  exceedingly.  And 
David  answered  and  said,  Behold  the  spear,  O  king !  let 

23  then  one  of  the  young  men  come  over  and  fetch  it.  And 
the  Lord  shall  render  to  every  man  his  righteousness 
and  his  faithfulness:  forasmuch  as  the  Lord  delivered 
thee  into  my  hand  to-day,  and  I  would  not  put  forth 

24  mine  hand  against  the  Lord's  anointed.     And,  behold, 

On  these  David  invokes  the  curse  of  God,  the  issue  of  which 
is  death.  Nothing  less  is  sufficient  for  men  by  whom  David  is 
being  driven  out  like  another  Cain  '  from  the  presence  of  Yahweh.' 
For  a  distinctive  feature  of  the  early  Semitic  religion  is  the  be- 
lief, here  so  clearly  illustrated,  that  each  deity  had  his  own 
land,  beyond  which  his  power  and  influence,  and  therefore  his 
worship,  did  not  extend.  For  David,  Yahweh  is,  of  course,  the 
only  legitimate  object  of  worship  within  the  territory  of  Israel, 
^  the  inheritance  of  Yahweh  '  (i  Kings  viii.  53),  but  the  existence  of 
other  gods,  as  e.  g.  Chemosh  in  Moab,  Milcom  in  Ammon,  is  also 
implied,  as  well  as  their  claim  upon  the  allegiance  and  worship  of 
those  who  took  refuge  within  the  land  oi their'  inheritance.'  See 
further  Kautzsch  on  ^  The  Religion  of  Israel  in  the  Pre-Prophetic 
Period'  in  Hastings*  DB.,  extra  vol.,  635. 

20.  away  from  tlie  presence  of  the  LORD  :  outside  the 
bounds  of  Yahweh's  land,  as  explained  above,  where  David  could 
no  longer  maintain  communion  with  God  by  sacrifice  (cf.  Hos. 
ix.  sfT.).  The  idea  of  dying  in  a  land  that  is  not  Yahweh's  is 
abhorrent  to  His  pious  worshipper. 

the  Tsixig  ...  is  come  out  to  seek  a  flea  :  a  copyist's  altera- 
tion, under  the  influence  of  xxiv.  14,  of  the  true  text  'to  seek 
my  life '  (LXX). 


I    SAMUEL  26.  25—27.  i.     M  173 

as  thy  life  vas  much  set  by  this  da)-  in  mine  eyes,  so  let 
my  life  be  much  set  by  in  the  eyes  of  the  Lord^  and  let 
him  deliver  me  out  of  all  tribulation.  Then  Saul  said  to  25 
David,  Blessed  be  thou,  my  son  David :  thou  shalt  both 
do  mightily,  and  shalt  surely  prevail.  So  David  went 
his  way,  and  Saul  returned  to  his  place. 

And  David  said  in  his  heart,  I  shall  now  perish  one  27 
day  by  the  hand  of  Saul :  there  is  nothing  better  for  me 
than  that  I  should  escape  into  the  land  of  the  Philistines ; 
and  Saul  shall  despair  of  me,  to  seek  me  any  more  in  all 
the  borders  of  Israel :  so  shall  I  escape  out  of  his  hand. 

25.  With  this  compare  xxiv.  i7ff.  A  careful  comparison  of 
the  contents  of  the  speeches  in  the  two  chapters  seems  to  us  to 
show  beyond  any  doubt  on  which  side  the  greater  antiquity  and 
originality  are  to  be  found. 

C.  I  Sam.  xxvii-xxxj.   David  as  the  Vassal  of  the  King  of  Gath, 
The  Philistine  Invasion  and  Death  of  Saul  and  Jonathan. 

This  subdivision  carries  forward  the  story  of  David's  fortunes 
from  the  day  that  he  determined  to  put  himself  beyond  the 
jurisdiction  of  Saul  to  the  tragic  death  of  the  latter  upon  Mount 
Gilboa.  Each  chapter  is  practically  concerned  with  a  distinct 
episode,  and  accordingly  the  sections  of  the  commentary  may 
follow  substantially  the  chapter-divisions.  The  compiler  continues 
to  draw  from  our  oldest  source.  Ch.  xxviii.  3  ff.,  which  now 
manifestly  breaks  the  connexion  between  xxviii.  i  f.  and  xxix, 
alone  gives  rise  to  difference  of  opinion  as  to  its  true  position  and 
provenance. 

(a)  xxvii.  I — xxviii.  2.  David  takes  refuge  with  Achish  of  Gath» 
His  policy  as  the  king's  vassal. 

Contrary  to  the  expectations  raised  by  the  amicable  parting  we 
have  just  witnessed,  we  now  find  David  compelled  to  take  the 
step  from  which  he  has  just  shrunk  in  horror  (xxvi.  19  f.)  and  to 
crave  the  protection  of  Saul's  bitterest  enemies,  the  Philistines. 
The  narrator  shows  how,  in  a  difficult  situation,  David  endeavoured 
to  steer  a  middle  course  between  his  duty  to  his  protector  and  his 
duty  to  his  country. 

1.  We  are  given  clearly  to  understand  that  David  took  the 
extreme  and  unpatriotic  step  here  recorded  onlj'  as  a  last  and 
desperate  resource.  That  this  is  on  every  ground  the  more 
trustworthy  representation  as  compared  with  the  parallel  version 
xxi.  10  15  is  self-evident. 


174  I    SAMUEL  27.  2-8.     M 

2  And  Uavid  arose,  and  passed  over,  he  and  the  six  hun- 
dred men  that  were  with  him,  unto  Achish  the  son  of 

3  Maoch,  king  of  Gath.  And  David  dwelt  with  Achish  at 
Gath,  he  and  his  men,  every  man  with  his  household, 
even  David  with  his  two  wives,  Ahinoam  the  Jezreelitess, 

4  and  Abigail  the  Carmelitess,  Nabal's  wife.  And  it  was 
told  Saul  that  David  was  fled  to  Gath :  and  he  sought  no 
more  again  for  him. 

5  And  David  said  unto  Achish,  If  now  I  have  found 
grace  in  thine  eyes,  let  them  give  me  a  place  in  one  of 
the  cities  in  the  country,  that  I  may  dwell  there  :  for  why 
should  thy  servant  dwell  in  the  royal  city  with  thee? 

6  Then  Achish  gave  him  Ziklag  that  day  ;  wherefore  Ziklag 
pertaineth  unto  the  kings  of  Judah  unto  this  day. 

7  And  the  number  of  the  days  that  David  dwelt  in  the 
country  of  the  Philistines  was  a  full  year  and  four  months. 

8  And  David  and  his  men  went  up,  and  made  a  raid  upon 
the  Geshurites,  and  the  Girzites,  and  the  Amaiekites : 

5.  David  requests  of  Achish  permission  to  retire,  in  modern 
phraseology,  to  one  of  the  provincial  towns.  The  reason  alleged 
seems  to  have  been  that  it  was  too  great  an  honour  to  continue  in 
the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  king,  with  the  implication,  perhaps, 
on  David's  part  that  he  could  be  of  more  service  to  his  suzerain 
as  Warden  of  the  Marches.  In  reality,  he  must  have  wished  to 
be  free  from  the  continual  surveillance  to  which  he  was  exposed 
in  the  capital  city.  It  has  also  been  suggested  that  in  a  district 
of  his  own  David  would  be  able  to  observe  his  own  religious  rites 
as  a  worshipper  of  Yahweh. 

6.  Ziklag  :  probably  Ziihcilike,  about  eleven  miles  east  by  south 
of  Gaza.  Now  granted  to  David  in  fee,  it  afterwards  became  the 
private  property  of  the  kings  of  Judah. 

wherefore  .  .  .  unto  this  day:  ifpart  of  the  original  narrative, 
this  clause  suggests  a  date  for  the  latter  after  the  secession  under 
Rehoboam.  Before  that  event  there  were  only  kings  of  Israel 
(cf.  Introduction,  sect.  iv). 

8.  the  Geshurites,  and  the  G-irzites:  David  turns  his  arms 
against  several  of  the  tribes  on  the  marches.  The  Geshurites  may 
have  been  a  small  tribe  on  the  frontier  of  Egypt    cf  Joshua  xiii. 


I   SAMUEL    27.  9-11.     M  175 

for  tliose  nations  were  tlie  inhabitants  of  tlie  land,  which 
were  of  old,  as  thou  goest  to  Shur,  even  unto  the  land  of 
Eg}'pt.  And  David  smote  the  land,  and  saved  neither  9 
man  nor  woman  alive,  and  took  away  the  sheep,  and  the 
oxen,  and  the  asses,  and  the  camels,  and  the  apparel ; 
and  he  returned,  and  came  to  Achish.  And  Achish  said,  10 
Whither  have  ye  made  a  raid  to-day  ?  And  David  said, 
Against  the  South  of  Judah,  and  against  the  South  of 
the  Jerahmeelites,  and  against  the  South  of  the  Kenites. 
And  David  saved  neither  man  nor  woman  alive,  to  bring  n 

2  R.V.).  The  better  known  Geshu rites  of  the  Jaulan  are  out  of 
the  question  here  (see  on  2  Sam.  iii.  3).  The  Girzites  are  other- 
wise unknown.  Another  reading  (see  R.V.  marg.)  is  Gizrites,  the 
inhabitants  of  Gezer.  But  this  city  lay  much  too  far  to  the  north. 
It  is  possible  that  both  Geshurites  and  Girzites  are  corrupt 
duplicates  of  a  single  tribal  name. 

tke  Asnalekites :  see  on  xv.  2.  The  clause  following  is 
obscure,  and  in  parts  corrupt.  Read  probably  :  '  for  they  inhabited 
the  land  which  is  from  Telam  (cf.  xv.  7)  as  thou  goest  unto  Shur,* 
&c.     See  Driver,  Notes,  &c. 

9.  For  the  ban  of  the  second  degree,  of  which  we  have  here  an 
example,  see  on  xv.  3.  Its  execution,  however,  was  by  no  means 
'  thorough,'  as  is  seen  from  the  incidents  of  ch.  xxx. 

he  returned,  and  came  to  Achish  :  from  this  and  the  similar 
notice,  verse  11",  it  is  to  be  inferred  that  part  of  David's  arrange- 
ment with  Achish  was  that  the  latter  should  receive  a  share  of  the 
spoils  of  every  foray.  An  interesting  discussion  of  the  constitutional 
position  of  David,  as  a  ^/r  or  outlander,  will  be  found  in  Bertholet, 
Die  Stellung  der  Israeliten  und  der  Juden  zu  den  Fremden,  28-32. 

10.  the  Sonth  of  Judah :  here  and  elsewhere  it  is  better  to 
retain  the  geographical  term  of  the  original  and  render,  'the 
Negeb  of  Judah.'  Tlie  Negeb — ///.  *  the  dry,  parched  land  ' — is  the 
standing  name  of  *  the  southernmost  of  the  natural  divisions  of 
Palestine,  the  steppe  region  which  forms  the  transition  to  the  true 
desert,'  including  Beer-sheba  on  the  north,  and  Kadesh-barnea  on 
the  south.     See  Cheyne's  article  '  Negeb,'  EBi.,  iii,  with  map. 

the  Jerahmeelites  :  a  southern  clan  allied  to  the  Calebites, 
with  whom  they  were  afterwards  absorbed  into  the  tribe  of  Judah 
(i  Chron.  ii.  42).  For  the  Kenites  see  on  xv.  6.  Both  clans 
appear  again,  xxx.  29. 

11  f.  An  interesting  glimpse  of  David's  policy  at  this  period. 
B3'  giving  out  that  he  had  raided  certain  districts  belonging  to  his 


176  I    SAMUEL  27.  12— 28.  3.     M 

them  to  Gath,  saying,  Lest  they  should  tell  on  us,  saying, 
So  did  David,  and  so  hath  been  his  manner  all  the  while 

12  he  hath  dwelt  in  the  country  of  the  Philistines.  And 
Achish  believed  David,  saying.  He  hath  made  his  people 
Israel  utterly  to  abhor  him;  therefore  he  shall  be  my 
servant  for  ever. 

28  And  it  came  to  pass  in  those  days,  that  the  Philistines 
gathered  their  hosts  together  for  warfare,  to  fight  with 
Israel.  And  Achish  said  unto  David,  Know  thou  as- 
suredly, that  thou  shalt  go  out  with  me  in  the  host,  thou 

2  and  thy  men.  And  David  said  to  Achish,  Therefore 
thou  shalt  know  what  thy  servant  will  do.  And  Achish 
said  to  David,  Therefore  will  I  make  thee  keeper  of  mine 
head  for  ever. 

3  Now  Samuel  was  dead,  and  all  Israel  had  lamented 

own  tribe  and  its  allies  he  succeeded  in  lulling  the  suspicions  that 
were  bound  to  arise  as  to  his  complete  loyalty  to  his  suzerain  (cf. 
xxix.  3,  6), 

xxviii.  1.  continues  the  preceding  narrative.  The  Philistines 
collect  their  forces  for  the  last  campaign  of  that  *  sore  war '  (xiv. 
52)  which  lasted  '  all  the  days  of  Saul.'  This  gives  Achish  occasion 
to  remind  his  vassal  of  his  duty  to  fight  under  his  lord's  banner. 

2.  Therefore  thou  shalt  know:  for  'thou'  read  with  LXX 
*  now,'  and  render  :  *  good  and  well,  nov^r  shalt  thou  know,'  &c. 
The  ambiguity  is  intentional.  At  this  stage  David  declines  to 
commit  himself;  Achish,  however,  assumes  that  David  will 
accompany  him. 

keeper  of  mine  head :  captain  of  the  royal  bodyguard,  as 
rendered  by  LXX  (for  the  Greek  term  see  Deissmann,  Bible 
Studies,  98).  David  soon  afterwards  followed  this  precedent  by 
appointing  a  bodyguard  of  foreign  mercenaries. 

(b)  xxviii.  3-25.  Saul's  visit  to  the  necromancer  at  En-dor. 
This  section,  as  has  been  already  noted,  breaks  the  main  thread 
of  the  narrative,  which  is  found  again  at  xxix.  i  ff.  Thus  we  hear 
of  the  Philistine  call  to  arms  in  xxviii.  i  ;  in  xxix.  i  the  place  of 
meeting  is  given  as  Aphek,  which  \3.y  in  the  plain  of  Sharon  (see 
on  iv.  i).  From  Aphek  the  Philistines  advance,  through  one  of 
the  passes  connecting  Sharon  with  Esdraelon,  to  Jezreel  where  the 
Israelite  army  lay  encamped  (xxix.  i,  11).     But  in  xxviii.  4  the 


I   SAMUEL  28.  4.     M  177 

him,  and  buried  him  in  Ramah,  even  in  his  own  city. 
And  Saul  had  put  away  those  that  had  familiar  spirits, 
and  the  wizards,  out  of  the  land.     And  the  Philistines  4 
gathered  themselves  together,  and  came  and  pitched  in 
Shunem  :  and  Saul  gathered  all  Israel  together,  and  they 

former  are  still  further  north  at  Shunem,  while  the  latter  have 
evidently  retired  before  the  Philistine  advance  to  the  mountain 
ridge  of  Gilboa.  Again,  Saul's  visit  to  En-dor  is  represented  as 
taking  place  on  the  night  before  the  battle  ^xxviii.  19).  Chrono- 
logically, therefore,  the  place  of  the  section  now  before  us  is 
immediately  in  front  of  ch.  xxxi.  That  it  actually  stood  there  in 
the  historical  document  (M)  to  which,  by  universal  consent,  the 
rest  of  these  chapters  (xxvii-xxxi)  belong  is,  we  believe,  the  more 
probable  view  (so  Budde  and  others),  although  by  the  majority  of 
critics  it  is  assigned  to  the  same  source  as  ch.  xv  (the  younger  and 
less  historical  S).  The  main  argument  for  the  latter  attribution  is 
drawn  from  verses  17  f,  which  are  a  recapitulation  of  the  contents 
of  ch.  XV.  But  the  verses  in  question  are  better  taken  as  a  later 
addition  to  the  true  text  i^see  notes  below).  Budde,  further,  has 
made  the  plausible  suggestion  that  the  present  dislocation  is  due 
to  the  fact  that  this  account  of  Saul's  resort  to  necromancy  was 
omitted  by  the  Deuteronomic  compiler  of  Samuel  as  unworthy  of 
one  who  was  the  Lord's  anointed,  just  as  it  is  probable  that  the 
great  section  2  Sam.  ix-xx  was  omitted  as  containing  so  much 
that  reflected  on  the  character  of  David.  The  later  and  more 
liberal-minded  editor  who  gave  our  Book  of  Samuel  its  present 
form  restored  both  the  omitted  sections,  but  inadvertently  inserted 
xxviii.  3  ff.  somewhat  too  early  in  the  narrative  (see  further, 
Introduction,  sects,  v,  vi). 

3.  The  first  half  of  this  verse  has  already  appeared  in  the 
redactional  note,  xxv.  i. 

those  that  had  familiar  spirits,  and  the  wizards  t  the 
precise  meaning  of  the  words  so  rendered  and  the  distinction 
between  them,  if  there  be  a  distinction,  are  still  matters  of  dispute. 
Budde  has  a  very  full  note  here,  see  also  Driver  on  the  classical 
passage,  Deut.  xviii.  10 f.,  and  Davies'  article  'Divination  '  in 
EBi.,  i,  ii2of.  There  is  a  peculiar  pathos  in  this  picture  of  Saul, 
once  so  jealous  of  the  honour  of  Yahweh,  reduced  to  having 
recourse  to  those  dishonouring  forms  of  superstition  which  he  had 
done  his  best  to  suppress. 

4.  See  introductory  note  above.  The  two  armies  are  facing 
each  other  across  the  eastern  end  of  the  plain  of  Esdraelon. 
Bhnneiu,  now  Sulem  or  Solant,  lies  on  its  northern  edge,  at 
the  fooi  of  Jebel  Dah)  or  Little  Hermon,  Qilboa,,  now  JebelFakua, 

N 


178  I   SAMUEL  28.  5-12.     M 

5  pitched  in  Gilboa.  And  when  Saul  saw  the  host  of  the 
Philistines,  he  was  afraid,  and  his  heart  trembled  greatly. 

6  And  when  Saul  inquired  of  the  Lord,  the  Lord  answered 
him  not,  neither  by  dreams,  nor  by  Urim,  nor  by  prophets. 

7  Then  said  Saul  unto  his  servants,  Seek  me  a  woman  that 
hath  a  familiar  spirit,  that  I  may  go  to  her,  and  inquire 
of  her.     And  his  servants  said  to  him,  Behold,  there  is 

8  a  woman  that  hath  a  familiar  spirit  at  En-dor.  And 
Saul  disguised  himself,  and  put  on  other  raiment,  and 
went,  he  and  two  men  with  him,  and  they  came  to  the 
woman  by  night :  and  he  said.  Divine  unto  me,  I  pray 
thee,  by  the  familiar  spirit,  and  bring  me  up  w^iomsoever 

9  I  shall  name  unto  thee.  And  the  woman  said  unto  him. 
Behold,  thou  knowest  what  Saul  hath  done,  how  he  hath 
cut  off  those  that  have  familiar  spirits,  and  the  wizards, 
out  of  the  land :  wherefore  then  layest  thou  a  snare  for 

10  my  life,  to  cause  me  to  die  ?   And  Saul  sware  to  her  by 
the  Lord,  saying,  As  the  Lord  liveth,  there  shall  no 

1 1  punishment  happen  to  thee  for  this  thing.  Then  said  the 
woman,  Whom  shall  I  bring  up  unto  thee  ?  And  he  said, 

12  Bring  me  up  Samuel.  And  when  the  woman  saw  Samuel, 
she  cried  with  a  loud  voice :  and  the  woman  spake  to 

is  the  ridge  running  south-east  along  the  southern  side  of  the 
valley  of  Jezreel. 

6.  By  none  of  the  recognized  channels  of  Divine  communication 
— dreams,  the  sacred  lot  (see  on  xiv.  41),  prophets— does  God 
vouchsafe  an  answer  to  Saul's  inquiry  as  to  the  issue  of  the 
impending  engagement. 

7.  a  woman  that  hath  a  familiar  spirit :  in  modern  phrase, 
'  a  woman  that  is  a  necromancer ' ;  so  in  verse  8  :  '  divine  unto  me 
by  necromancy.' 

En-dor:    the    modern  Endur^   on    the   north  side  of  Little 
Hermon,  opposite  Mount  Tabor. 

12.  The  want  of  logical  connexion  between  the  two  halves  of 
this  verse  has  long  been  felt.  Why  should  the  sight  of  Samuel, 
whom  of  course  she  was  expecting  to  see,  have  had  such  an  effect 


I    SAMUEL    28.   13-17.     M  179 

Saul,  saying,  Why  hast  tliou  deceived  me  ?  for  thou  art 
Saul.     And  the  king  said  unto  her.  Be  not  afraid:   for  13 
what  seest  thou  ?    And  the  woman  said  unto  Saul,  I  see 
a  god  coming  up  out  of  the  earth.     And  he  said  unto  14 
her.  What  form  is  he  of?   And  she  said,  An  old  man 
Cometh  up ;  and  he  is  covered  with  a  robe.     And  Saul 
perceived  that  it  was  Samuel,  and  he  bowed  with  his  face 
to  the  ground,  and  did  obeisance.     And  Samuel  said  to  15 
Saul,  Why  hast  thou  disquieted  me,  to  bring  me  up? 
And  Saul  answered,  I  am  sore  distressed ;  for  the  Philis- 
tines make  war  against  me,  and  God  is  departed  from 
me,  and  answereth  me  no  more,  neither  by  prophets,  nor 
by  dreams  :  therefore  I  have  called  thee,  that  thou  mayest 
make  known  unto  me  what  I  shall  do.     And  Samuel  16 
said,  Wherefore  then  dost  thou  ask  of  me,  seeing  the 
Lord  is  dei^arted  from  thee^,  and  is  become  thine  adver- 
sary?  And  the  Lord  hath  Avrought  for  himself,  as  he  17 

upon  this  professional  necromancer,  and  how  did  it  cause  her  to 
recognize  Saul  in  his  disguise  ?  Perles,  followed  by  Budde  and 
Nowack,  proposes  to  read  '  Saul '  for  •  Samuel '  :  '  when  the 
woman  looked  at  Saul,  she  cried,'  &;c.  The  connexion  is  now 
clear.  The  mention  of  Samuel's  name  (verse  11),  coupled  with 
her  knowledge  that  Saul  was  in  the  neighbourhood,  led  to  her 
recognition  of  Saul,  and  the  conviction  that  she  had  been  caught 
in  a  trap  which  the  king  had  set  for  her.  Hence  her  abject  fear, 
which  is  quieted  by  Saul  in  verse  13.  It  appears,  further,  that 
Saul  was  the  first  to  recognize  Samuel  in  the  ascending  spirit, 
which  verse  14  shows  to  have  been  visible  to  the  woman,  but 
invisible  to  Saul. 

15.  to  bringf  me  up:  i.e.  from  Sheol,  the  abode  of  the  dead  ; 
see  on  ii.  6. 

16.  and  is  become  thine  adversary  i  a  doubtful  reading  and 
rendering.  The  original  may  have  been  :  •  and  is  on  the  side  of 
thine  adversaries,'  the  Philistines.  The  LXX  reading  in  R.V. 
marg.  seems  to  betray  the  influence  of  verse  17. 

xxviii.  17-19^  to  Philistines).  These  verses  have  been  recog- 
nized as  a  later  insertion  based  on  ch.  xv  (especially  verse  sS^'i  even 
by  sonic  who  regard  the  chapter  before  us  as  the  natural  sequel 

N    2 


i8o  I   SAMUEL  28.  18-23.     M 

spake  by  me  :  and  the  Lord  hath  rent  the  kingdom  out 
of  thine  hand,  and  given  it  to  thy  neighbour,  even  to 

18  David.  Because  thou  obeyedst  not  the  voice  of  the 
Lord,  and  didst  not  execute  his  fierce  wrath  upon 
Amalek,  therefore  hath  the  Lord  done  this  thing  unto 

19  thee  this  day.  Moreover  the  Lord  will  deliver  Israel 
also  with  thee  into  the  hand  of  the  Philistines  :  and  to- 
morrow shalt  thou  and  thy  sons  be  with  me :  the  Lord 
shall  deliver  the  host  of  Israel  also  into  the  hand  of  the 

20  Philistines.  Then  Saul  fell  straightway  his  full  length 
upon  the  earth,  and  was  sore  afraid,  because  of  the  words 
of  Samuel :  and  there  was  no  strength  in  him ;  for  he 

21  had  eaten  no  bread  all  the  day,  nor  all  the  night.  And 
the  woman  came  unto  Saul,  and  saw  that  he  was  sore 
troubled,  and  said  unto  him.  Behold,  thine  handmaid 
hath  hearkened  unto  thy  voice,  and  I  have  put  my  life 
in  my  hand,  and  have  hearkened  unto  thy  words  which 

22  thou  spakest  unto  me.  Now  therefore,  I  pray  thee, 
hearken  thou  also  unto  the  voice  of  thine  handmaid,  and 
let  me  set  a  morsel  of  bread  before  thee ;  and  eat,  that 
thou  mayest  have  strength,  when  thou  goest  on  thy  way. 

33  But  he  refused,  and  said,  I  will  not  eat.  But  his  servants, 
together  with   the   woman,   constrained   him ;    and   he 

to  the  account  there  given  of  Saul's  rejection.  That  they  are 
foreign  to  the  original  context  is  best  seen  from  the  double 
reference,  in  identical  terms,  to  the  Philistines  in  verse  19.  Verse 
16,  therefore,  should  be  continued  thus  :  '■  and  to-morrow  shalt 
thou,'  &c.  For  the  bearing  of  this  on  the  literary  affinity  of  the 
chapter,  and  ultimately  on  the  historicity  of  the  episode,  see 
introductory  note  above. 

17.  the  LORD  hath  wrougrht  for  himself:  read,  with  LXX 
(see  marg.)  :  '  and  the  Lord  hath  done  unto  thee  as  he  spake  by 
me.'     Cf.  the  original  passage  xv.  28. 

19.  to-morrow  shalt  thou  and  thy  sons  he  with  me  :  the 
original  will  scarcely  bear  this  rendering ;  read,  with  LXX  and 
most  editors  :  ^  to-morrow  shalt  thou  and  thy  sons  with  thee  be 
fallen.' 


I    SAMUEL    28.24—29.4.     M  i8i 

hearkened  unto  their  voice.  So  he  arose  from  the  earth, 
and  sat  upon  the  bed.  And  the  woman  had  a  fatted  24 
calf  in  the  house ;  and  she  hasted,  and  killed  it ;  and  she 
took  flour,  and  kneaded  it,  and  did  bake  unleavened 
bread  thereof:  and  she  brought  it  before  Saul,  and  before  25 
his  servants ;  and  they  did  eat.  Then  they  rose  up,  and 
went  away  that  night. 

Now  the  Philistines  gathered  together  all  their  hosts  29 
to  Aphek :   and  the  Israelites  pitched  by  the  fountain 
which  is  in  Jezreel.     And  the  lords  of  the  Philistines  2 
passed  on  by  hundreds,  and  by  thousands  :  and  David 
and  his  men  passed  on  in  the  rearward  with  Achish. 
Then  said  the  princes  of  the  Philistines,  What  do  these  3 
Hebrews  here}  And  Achish  said  unto  the  princes  of  the 
Philistines,  Is  not  this  David,  the  servant  of  Saul  the 
king  of  Israel,  which  hath  been  with  me  these  days  or 
these  years,  and  I  have  found  no  fault  in  him  since  he 
fell  away  unto  me  unto  this  day  ?  But  the  princes  of  the  4 
Philistines  were  wroth  with  him  :  and  the  princes  of  the 
Philistines  said  unto  him.  Make  the  man  return,  that  he 
may  go  back  to  his  place  where  thou  hast  appointed  him, 
and  let  him  not  go  down  with  us  to  battle,  lest  in  the 
battle  he   become  an  adversary  to  us :   for  wherewith 

{c)  xxix.     David  is  dismissed  by  the  lords  of  the  Philistines. 

This  chapter  and  the  following  continue  the  narrative  of  xxviii, 
I  f.  As  on  a  former  occasion  (iv.  i),  the  Philistines  muster  their 
forces  at  Aphek,  while  the  Israelites  encamp  by  the  fountain 
whioh  is  in  Jezreel,  generally  identified  with  the  copious  spring 
/Hh  Jalud  at  the  foot  of  Gilboa.  in  Judges  vii.  i  called  *  the  spring 
ofHarod.' 

3  ff.  Achish  justifies  David's  presence  on  the  twofold  ground 
(i)  that  he  had  ever}'  reason  to  take  arms  against  Saul,  and  C2) 
that  he  had  shown  himself  thoroughly-  103-al  during  his  period  of 
vassalage.  The  arguments  of  the  Philistine  princes  are  un- 
answerable 'cf.  the  incident,  xiv.  21). 

4.  lest  ...  he  become  an  adversary  to  us  :    Heb.   sdtdn,  as 


i82  T    SAMUEL  29.  5-10.     M 

should  i\\\sfe//ow  reconcile  himself  unto  his  lord  ?  should 

5  it  not  be  with  the  heads  of  these  men  ?  Is  not  this  David, 
of  whom  they  sang  one  to  another  in  dances,  saying, 

Saul  hath  slain  his  thousands, 
And  David  his  ten  thousands  ? 

6  Then  Achish  called  David,  and  said  unto  him,  As  the 
Lord  liveth,  thou  hast  been  upright,  and  thy  going  out 
and  thy  coming  in  with  me  in  the  host  is  good  in  my 
sight :  for  I  have  not  found  evil  in  thee  since  the  day  of 
thy  coming  unto  me  unto  this  day  :  nevertheless  the  lords 

7  favour  thee  not.    Wherefore  now  return,  and  go  in  peace, 

8  that  thou  displease  not  the  lords  of  the  Philistines.  And 
David  said  unto  Achish,  But  what  have  I  done?  and 
what  hast  thou  found  in  thy  servant  so  long  as  I  have 
been  before  thee  unto  this  day,  that  I  may  not  go  and 

9  fight  against  the  enemies  of  my  lord  the  king?  And 
Achish  answered  and  said  to  David,  I  know  that  thou  art 
good  in  my  sight,  as  an  angel  of  God :  notwithstanding 
the  princes  of  the  Philistines  have  said,  He  shall  not  go 

10  up  with  us  to  the  battle.  Wherefore  now  rise  up  early 
in  the  morning  with  the  servants  of  thy  lord  that  are 
come  with  thee :  and  as  soon  as  ye  be  up  early  in  the 

2  Sam.  xix.  22  and  elsewhere  of  a  human  antagonist.  Onl^'  in  later 
literature  does  the  word  become  the  name  of  the  great  adversarj' 
of  mankind  (Zech.  iii.  if.,  i  Chron.  xxi.  r,  and  the  opening 
chapters  of  Job). 

8.  David  affects  to  regard  Achish's  pohte  expression  of  the 
princes' order  as  casting  suspicion  on  hisloyaltj'.  The  narrator  does 
not  disclose  the  real  mind  of  David  on  the  subject  (cf.  xxviii.  2). 

9.  as  an  aug'el  of  God  :  blamelessness  seems  here  the  point  of 
comparison.     Otherwise  2  Sam.  xiv.  17.  xix.  27,  which  see. 

10.  The  following  has  been  dropped  from  the  end  of  this  verse  : 
'depart  and  go  to  the  place  where  I  have  stationed  3'ou  [viz. 
Ziklag],  and  put  no  wicked  design  in  th3'  heart,  for  thou  art  good 
in  my  sight'  (LXX).  'It  is  assumed  by  Achish  that  the  high- 
spirited  warrior  will  feel  insulted,  and  be  tempted  to  take  revenge" 
(H.  P.  Smith). 


I   SAMUEL  29.  n  — 30.  6.     M  183 

morning,  and  have  light,  depart.    So  David  rose  up  early,  it 
he  and  his  men,  to  depart  in  the  morning,  to  return  into 
the  land  of  the  Philistines.     And  the  Philistines  went  up 
to  Jezreel. 

iVnd  it  came  to  pass,  when  David  and  his  men  were  30 
come  to  Ziklag  on  the  third  day,  that  the  Amalekites  had 
made  a  raid  upon  the  South,  and  upon  Ziklag,  and  had 
smitten  Ziklag,  and  burned  it  with  fire ;  and  had  taken  2 
captive  the  women  a^d  all  that  were  therein,  both  small 
and  great :  they  slew  not  any,  but  carried  them  off,  and 
went  their  way.     And  when  David  and  his  men  came  3 
to  the  city,  behold,  it  was  burned  with  fire;  and  their 
wives,  and  their  sons,  and  their  daughters,  were  taken 
captives.     Then  David  and  the  people  that  were  with  4 
him  lifted  up  their  voice  and  wept,  until  they  had  no 
more  power  to  weep.    And  David's  two  wives  were  taken  5 
captives,  Ahinoam  the  Jezreelitess,  and  Abigail  the  wife 
of  Nabal  the  Carmelite.     And  David  was  greatly  dis-  6 
tressed  ;  for  the  people  spake  of  stoning  him,  because 
the  soul  of  all  the  people  was  grieved,  every  man  for  his 
sons  and  for  his  daughters  :  but  David  strengthened  him- 
self in  the  Lord  his  God. 

11.  The  Philistines  advance  from  Aphek  to  Jezreel,  the  im- 
portant cit3%  now  Zeriu^  at  the  head  of  the  vallej'  of  Jezreel. 

{(T-  XXX.      The  Ainahhiic  mid  on  Ziklag,  nud  its  sequel. 

On  the  third  day  after  leaving  Aphek,  David  and  his  men  arrive 
at  Ziklag  to  find  it  raided  and  burned.  The  .ibsence  of  the 
fighting  men  afforded  these  wild  Bedouin  an  excellent  opportunity 
of"  revenging  David's  treatment  of  their  tribe  (xxviii.  7). 

2.  The  intention  of  the  raiders  was  apparently  to  sell  their 
captives  in  the  Egj'ptian  slave-market. 

6.  David  was  greatly  distressed:  rather,  'was  in  great  straits,' 
the  reference  being  not  to  inward  emotion,  but  to  his  personal 
danger,  as  explained  in  the  next  clause.  But  David's  courage 
did  not  fail,  for  'the  rock  of  his  strength  and  his  refuge  were  in 
God'  >Ps,  Ixii.  7\ 


i84  I    SAMUEL  SO.  7-14.     M 

7  And  David  said  to  Abiathar  the  priest,  the  son  of 
Ahimelech,  I  pray  thee,  bring  me  hither  the  ephod. 
And   Abiathar   brought   thither   the   ephod   to    David. 

8  And  David  inquired  of  the  Lord,  saying,  If  I  pursue 
after  this  troop,  shall  I  overtake  them  ?  And  he  answered 
him,  Pursue :   for  thou  shalt  surely  overtake  them^  and 

9  shalt  without  fail  recover  all.  So  David  went,  he  and 
the  six  hundred  men  that  were  with  him,  and  came  to 
the  brook  Besor,  where  those  that   were  left   behind 

10  stayed.  But  David  pursued,  he  and  four  hundred  men : 
for  two  hundred  stayed  behind,  which  were  so  faint  that 

11  they  could  not  go  over  the  brook  Besor :  and  they  found 
an  Egyptian  in  the  field,  and  brought  him  to  David,  and 
gave  him  bread,  and  he  did  eat;   and  they  gave  him 

1 2  water  to  drink  :  and  they  gave  him  a  piece  of  a  cake  of 
figs,  and  two  clusters  of  raisins ;  and  when  he  had  eaten, 
his  spirit  came  again  to  him :  for  he  had  eaten  no  bread, 

13  nor  drunk  any  water,  three  days  and  three  nights.  And 
David  said  unto  him,  To  whom  belongest  thou?  and 
whence  art  thou?  And  he  said,  I  am  a  young  man  of 
Egypt,  servant  to  an  Amalekite  ;  and  my  master  left  me, 

14  because  three  days  agone  I  fell  sick.  We  made  a  raid 
upon  the  South  of  the  Cherethites,  and  upon  that  which 

7f.  David  proceeds  to  ascertain  the  will  of  Yahweh  by  the 
customary'  means,  the  oracle  of  the  ephod  (see  on  xiv.  41,  and 
xxiii.  2),  Although  only  two  questions  are  given  in  the  text,  we 
see  from  the  answers  that  three  were  put  in  succession,  each  of 
which  received  an  affirmative  answer. 

9.  the  brook  Besor :  probably,  if  the  Amalekites  were  making 
for  Egypt,  the  modern  Wadi-esh-Sheriah^  a  branch  of  the  Wadi 
Ghuzseh. 

10.  One-third  of  David's  force  is  found  to  be  too  exhausted  for 
further  pursuit,  a  condition  by  no  means  surprising,  if  the}'  had 
just  covered  the  eighty  miles  or  thereby  from  Aphek  to  Ziklag  in 
three  days  (verse  i). 

12.  a  cake  of  fig's,  &c.  :  see  on  xxv.  18. 

14.  the  South  of  the  Cherethites :  the  Cherethite  Negeb  (see 


I   SAMUEL  30.  i;-2o.     M  185 

belongeth  to  Jiidah,  and  upon  the  South  of  Caleb  ;  and 
we  burned  Ziklag  with  fire.     And  David  said  to  him,  15 
Wilt  thou  bring  me  down  to  this  troop  ?  And  he  said, 
Swear  unto  me  by  God,  that  thou  wilt  neither  kill  me, 
nor  deliver  me  up  into  the  hands  of  my  master,  and  I 
will  bring  thee  down  to  this  troop.     And  when  he  had  16 
brought  him  down,  behold,  they  were  spread  abroad  over 
all  the  ground,  eating  and  drinking,  and  feasting,  because 
of  all  the  great  spoil  that  they  had  taken  out  of  the  land 
of  the  Philistines,  and  out  of  the  land  of  Judah.     And  17 
David  smote   them   from   the   twilight   even  unto   the 
evening  of  the  next  day  :   and  there  escaped  not  a  man 
of  them,  save  four  hundred  young  men,  which  rode  upon 
camels   and  fled.     And  David   recovered   all   that   the  18 
Amalekites  had  taken  :  and  David  rescued  his  two  wives. 
And  there  was  nothing  lacking  to  them,  neither  small  19 
nor  great,  neither  sons  nor  daughters,  neither  spoil,  nor 
any  thing  that  they  had  taken  to  them  :  David  brought 
back  all.     And  David  took  all  the  flocks  and  the  herds,  20 
■which  they  drave  before  those  other  cattle,  and  said,  This 


on  xxvii.  10).  that  portion  of  Southern  Palestine  occupied  by  the 
Cherethites.  a  clan  closely  allied  to  the  Philistines,  with  whom 
they  are  associated  by  Zephaniah  (ii.  5>  and  Ezekiel  (xxv.  16). 
See  also  on  2  Sam.  viii.  18. 

the  South  of  Caleb  :  the  Calebite  Negeb.  the  country  round 
Maon,  Carmel,  and  Ziph  occupied  by  the  clan  of  Caleb.  For  the 
five  Negebs.  see  reference  on  xxvii.  10. 

17.  of  the  next  day:  the  original  is  here  corrupt:  read,  with 
Wellh.,  Budde.  and  others,  'to  put  them  to  the  ban.'  The  rout 
will  thus  have  extended  only  over  the  period  before  and  after 
sunset. 

20.  A  corrupt  and  unintelligible  text  is  responsible  for  what 
appears  in  our  version  as  a  selfish  abuse  of  authoritj'  on  David's 
part.  The  original  probabh'  told  that,  besides  recovering  their 
own  propert5%  David  and  his  men  captured  an  enormous  loot,  the 
destination  of  which  wc  hear  of  later  (verses  26  ff.). 


i86  I   SAMUEL   30.  21-24.     M 

21  is  David's  spoil.     And  David  came  to  the  two  hundred 
men,  which  were  so  faint  that   they  could   not   follow  i 
David,  whom  also  they  had  made  to  abide  at  the  brook 
Besor  :  and  they  went  forth  to  meet  David,  and  to  meet 
the  people  that  were  with  him :   and  when  David  came 

22  near  to  the  people,  he  saluted  them.     Then  answered 
all  the  wicked  men  and  men  of  Belial,  of  those  that  went 
w'ith  David,  and  said,  Because  they  went  not  with  us, 
we  will  not  give  them  aught  of  the  spoil  that  we  have  | 
recovered,  save  to  every  man  his  wife  and  his  children,  } 

23  that  they  may  lead  them  away,  and  depart.  Then  said  | 
David,  Ye  shall  not  do  so,  my  brethren,  with  that  which  I 
the  Lord  hath  given  unto  us,  who  hath  preserved  us,  1 
and  delivered  the  troop  that  came  against  us  into  our 

24  hand.  And  who  will  hearken  unto  you  in  this  matter?  [ 
for  as  his  share  is  that  goeth  down  to  the  battle,  so  shall  ^ 
his  share  be  that  tarrieth  by  the  stuff:  they  shall  share  f 

21.  The  last  clause  should  read  :  'and  they  came  near  to  the  , 
people  (the  returning  troop)  and  saluted  them.'  ' 

XXX.  22-25.  An  interesting  illustration  of  the  creation  of  a  pre-  ]' 
cedent  in  Hebrew  law,  regulating  the  equitable  division  of  booty  [ 
captured  in  war.  [; 

23.  with  that  ^vhich  the  ItO'E>l>  hath  given  unto  us,  who,  &c.  :  •! 
this  cannot  fairly  be  got  from  the  received  text.  Read,  as  suggested  1 
by  LXX  :  '  after  that  the  Lord  hath  wrought  for  (or  helped)  us,  \ 
and  hath  preserved  us."  &c.  *  In  any  case  we  have  a  warning 
against  ingratitude  to  God  ;  everywhere  gratitude  manifests  itself  ; 
in  kindness  to  others,  cf.  xi.  13'  (Budde).  Ii 

24  f.  The  equitable  distribution  here  formulated  became  a  | 
statute  and  an  ordinance  for  Israel  from  this  time  forward.  Not-  ,^ 
withstanding  the  explicit  account  given  of  the  origin  of  this  statute,  i 
its  introduction  in  the  course  of  time  was  ascribed  to  Moses  by  1 
one  of  those  legal  fictions  characteristic  of  all  ancient  sA'^stems  of  j; 
jurisprudence,  see  Num.  xxxi.  27  ff.,  with  Gray's  Connuentary  \ 
(Intern.  Crit.  Series),  where  numerous  parallels  from  other  sys- 
tems are  given.  The  light  which  is  tlicreby  thrown  upon  the 
growth  of  the  'Mosaic'  leeislation  is  ablv  discussed  by  W.  R.  Smith 
\nOTJC.-ofi6f,  :  .  ^ 

I 


T    SAMUEL  30.  25-^.1.     M  187 

alike.     And  it  was   so  from  that  day  forward,  that  he  2.:; 
made  it  a  statute  and  an  ordinance  for  Israel,  unto  this 
day. 

And  when  David  came  to  Ziklag,  he  sent  of  the  spoil  26 
unto  the  elders  of  Judah,  even  to  his  friends,  saying, 
Behold  a  present  for  you  of  the  spoil  of  the  enemies  of 
the  Lord  :  to  them  which  were  in  Beth-el,  and  to  them  27 
which  were  in  Ramoth  of  the  South,  and  to  them  which 
were  in  Jattir  ;  and  to  them  which  were  in  Aroer,  and  to  2S 
them  w^hich  were  in  Siphmoth,  and  to  them  w^hich  were  in 
Eshtemoa ;   and  to  them  w4iich  were  in  Racal,  and  to  29 
them  which  were  in  the  cities  of  the  Jerahmeelites,  and 
to  them  which  were  in  the  cities  of  the  Kenites  ;  and  to  ?,o 
them  which  were  in  Hormah,  and  to  them  which  were 
in  Cor-ashan,  and  to  them  which  were  in  Athach  ;  and  31 
to  them  which  were  in  Hebron,  and  to  all  the  places 
where  David  himself  and  his  men  were  wont  to  haunt. 


XXX.  26-3T.     David's  politic  disposal  of  his  sJwre  of  the  spoil. 

26.  a  present :  ///.  'a  blessing'  (R.  V.  marg.),  in  the  sccondarj' 
sense  of  this  v.'ord.  the  gift  that  accompanied  the  message  of  good- 
will, as  X.  27. 

27  ff.  Beth-el,  not  the  well-known  Benjamite  cit}'.  but  a  town 
in  Southern  Judah,  named,  under  a  slightly  different  form,  in 
I  Chron.  iv,  30  along  with  Hormah  and  Ziklag.  Bamoth.  better 
Ramah(LXX;,lay  in  the  territorj-of  Simeon  (Joshua  xix.8\  Jattir 
and  Eshtemoa,  also  Joshua  xv.  48,  xxi.  14.  Aroer,  the  modern 
Ararah  in  the  wady  of  that  name,  south-east  of  Beer-sheba.  For 
Racal  read,  with  LXX,  Carmel.  The  Jerahmeelites  and  the 
Kenites  have  been  ahead}'  met  with  as  clans  of  the  Negeb  ( xxvii. 
io\  Hormah,  not  y^i  identified,  is  frequently  mentioned  elsewhere 
among  the  towns  of  the  extreme  south.  Cor-ashan,  better,  as 
margin,  Bor-ashan,  is  a  corruption  of  Bcer-shcba  (LXX.  B\  which 
Would  scarcely  liave  been  omitted.  Hehrou,  the  chief  citj'  of 
Judah,  and  soon  to  be  David's  first  capital.  Siphmoth  and  Athach 
have  not  been  identified. 

In  this  distribution  of  the  loot  among  all  the  places  where 
David  himself  and  his  men  wei'e  wont  to  haunt,  Da\id  showed 
his  talent  for  diplomacy,  as  well  as  his  gratitude  to  those  who  had 


i88  I    SAMUEL  31.  1-4.     M 

31      Now  the   Philistines  fought  against  Israel :  and  the 
men  of  Israel  fled  from  before  the  Philistines,  and  fell 

2  down  slain  in  mount  Gilboa.  And  the  Phihstines 
followed  hard  upon  Saul  and  upon  his  sons ;  and  the 
Philistines  slew  Jonathan,  and  Abinadab,  and  Malchi- 

3  shua,  the  sons  of  Saul.  And  the  battle  went  sore  against 
Saul,  and  the  archers  overtook  him ;  and  he  was  greatly 

4  distressed  by  reason  of  the  archers.  Then  said  Saul  to 
his  armourbearer,  Draw  thy  sword,  and  thrust  me  through 
therewith  ;  lest  these  uncircumcised  come  and  thrust  me 
through,  and  abuse  me.     But  his  armourbearer  would 

befriended  him  in  the  past.  His  temporary  alliance  with  the 
Philistines  was  no  doubt  much  criticized,  and  it  was  wise,  in  view 
of  future  contingencies,  to  take  the  first  opportunity  of  removing 
all  suspicion  of  his  loyalty  to  his  own  tribe  of  Judah,  at  least,  and 
the  allied  clans. 

(e)  xxxi.   The  death  of  Smil  and  Jonathan  on  Mount  Gilboa. 

In  the  original  sequence  of  M.  the  story  of  Saul's  visit  to  En-dor 
now  followed  as  the  prelude  to  ch.  xxxi  (see  above).  The  account 
here  given  of  Saul's  tragic  end — the  relation  of  which  to  the 
contents  of  2  Sam.  i.  6  ff.  will  be  discussed  later — is  also  found 
with  slight  variations,  representing  in  some  cases  a  purer  text,  in 
I  Chron.  x.  1-12. 

2.  Abinadab  is  identified  by  the  Revisers  (note  marg.)  with 
Ishvi  of  xiv.  49,  but  the  latter  was  there  shown  to  be  a  variant 
for  Ish-baal  (Ish-bosheth),  who  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
present  on  Gilboa. 

3.  and  he  was  greatly  distressed,  &c. :  the  words  of  the 
original  seem  to  denote  mental  distress,  as  if  the  once  courageous 
king  were  paralysed  with  fear,  but  the  text  is  open  to  question. 
The  A.  V.  rendering  '  and  he  was  sore  wounded  of  the  archers,' 
though  supported  by  the  LXX,  cannot  be  got  from  the  received 
text,  yet  this  or  something  similar  is  implied  by  the  appeal  of 
verse  4. 

4.  thrust  me  througrh,  and  abuse  me :  this  can  only  mean 
that  Saul  dreaded  insult  to  his  dead  body  by  mutilation  or  other- 
wise. But  this  contingency  could  not  be  evaded  by  his  being 
slain  by  a  Hebrew  rather  than  by  a  Philistine.  Hence  the 
preference  is  generally  given  to  the  reading  of  i  Chron.  x.  4, 
which  omits  the  first  clause.  This  makes  the  wounded  king  dread 
the  possibilitj'  of  being  taken  olive  to  be  made  a  mock  or  sport  of, 


I    SAMUEL  31.  5-II.     M  189 

not;   for  he  was  sore  afraid.     Therefore  Saul  took  his 
sword,  and  fell  upon  it.     And  when  his  armourbearer  5 
saw  that  Saul  was  dead,  he  likewise  fell  upon  his  sword, 
and  died  with  him.     So  Saul  died,  and  his  three  sons,  6 
and  his  armourbearer,  and  all  his  men,  that  same  day 
together.     And  when   the  men  of  Israel  that  were  on  7 
the  other  side  of  the  valley,  and  they  that  were  beyond 
Jordan,  saw  that  the  men  of  Israel  fled,  and  that  Saul  and 
his  sons  \vere  dead,  they  forsook  the  cities,  and  fled ; 
and  the  Philistines  came  and  dwelt  in  them. 

And  it  came  to  pass  on  the  morrow,  when  the  Philis-  8 
tines  came  to  strip  the  slain,  that  they  found  Saul  and 
his  three  sons  fallen  in  mount  Gilboa.     And  they  cut  off  9 
his  head,  and  stripped  off  his  armour,  and  sent  into  the 
land  of  the  Philistines  round  about,  to  carry  the  tidings 
unto  the  house  of  their  idols,  and  to  the  people.     And  10 
they  put  his  armour  in  the  house  of  the  Ashtaroth  :  and 
they  fastened  his  body  to  the  wall  of  Beth-shan.     And  n 

like  Samson,  by  the  Philistines.  Cases  of  suicide  are  remarkably 
rare  in  Scripture,  cf.  2  Sam  xvii.  23  (Ahithophel),  i  Kings  xvi.  18 
(Zimri),  Matt,  xxvii.  5  f Judas  Iscariot).  The  later  views  on  the 
subject  of  suicide  will  be  found  in  Josephus,  Wars  of  the  Jews, 
III.  viii.  5. 

7.  on  the  other  side  of  the  valley  :  the  country  to  the  north 
of  the  valley  of  Jezreel  (cf.  Hos.  i.  5).  The  next  clause  is 
wanting  in  Chronicles  (which  see),  and  should  be  dropped  here, 
as  it  is  extremely  improbable  that  the  Philistines  occupied  (see 
end  of  verse")  any  part  of  the  trans-Jordanic  territory. 

9.  unto  the  house  of  their  idols:  the  original  and  more 
expressive  reading  is  that  of  Chronicles  and  the  LXX,  which 
omits  *the  house  of.' 

10.  the  house  of  the  Ashtaroth:  rather,  'the  temple  of  Astarte,' 
probably  at  Ashkelon  (Herod,  i.  105).  The  Chronicler  records 
that  'they  fastened  his  skull  to  the  house  of  Dagon,'  but  this 
appears  to  be  merely  a  false  reading  of  the  latter  half  of  this  verse. 

Beth-shan  :  the  modern  Beisdn,  an  important  centre  com- 
manding the  Jordan  valley  and  tlie  valley  of  Jezreel,  The  spot 
selected  was  probably  above  the  principal  gate,  opening  on  the 


iQo  I    SAMUEL  31.  12,  13.     M 

when  the  inhabitants  of  Jabesh-gilead  heard  concern- 
ing him  that  which  the  Phihstines  had  done  to  Saul, 
all  the  valiant  men  arose,  and  went  all  night,  and 
took  the  body  of  Saul  and  the  bodies  of  his  sons  from 
the  wall  of  Beth-shan ;  and  they  came  to  Jabesh,  and 
burnt  them  there.  And  they  took  their  bones,  and 
buried  them  under  the  tamarisk  tree  in  Jabesh,  and 
fasted  seven  days. 

siik,  or  market-place,  outside  the  walls.  Hence  the  practicability 
of  the  exploit  recorded  2  Sam.  xxi.  12  (which  see). 

11  ff.  These  verses  tell  of  the  gratitude  of  the  men  of  Jabesh- 
gilead,  who  had  not  forgotten  what  they  owed  to  Saul  (xi.  1  ff.). 

12.  and  Ijurnt  them  there  :  it  is  impossible  that  this  can  be  the 
true  reading.  The  idea  of  burning  dead  bodies  was  altogether 
abhorrent  to  the  eschatological  thought  of  the  time  (Amos  ii.  i). 
Read,  with  Klostermann,  Budde,  and  others,  by  a  slight  change : 
'and  made  lamentation  for  them  there,'  the  invariable  prelude  to 
burial  (xxv.  i,  xxviii.  3).  This  involves  reading  'and  they  took 
their  bodies  '  in  verse  13.  After  the  corrupt  reading  '  burnt  them  ' 
had  crept  in,  the  substitution  of  '  bones '  for  '  bodies  '  will  have 
been  made  more  easy  by  the  note  in  3  Sam.  xxi.  12,  where  the 
mention  of  '  the  bones  of  Saul  and  Jonathan '  is  quite  in  place. 

13.  and  fasted  seven  days  :  for  fasting  as  an  expression  of 
mourning,  cf.  3  Sam.  i.  12,  iii.  35,  and  xii.  16. 


THE 

SECOND   BOOK  OF  SAMUEL 

[M]  And  it  came  to  pass  after  the  death  of  Saul,  when  1 
David  was  returned  from  the  slaughter  of  the  Amalekites, 

D.     2  Sam.  i-viii.     David  instaUed  as  King,  first  of  J  udah^ 
then  of  all  Israel. 

The  first  and  more  detailed  portion  of  this  subdivision  tells  the 
story  of  seven  eventfiil  years  in  the  life  of  David.  The  authority 
is  still  in  the  main  the  early  document  which  forms,  as  we  have 
seen,  the  groundwork  of  the  whole  of  the  second  division  of  the 
Books  of  Samuel.  After  recording  David's  elevation  to  the  throne 
of  the  reunited  kingdom,  the  compiler  contents  himself  with  giving 
a  number  of  historical  extracts  somewhat  loosely  joined  together, 
and  Rnally  brings  his  book  to  a  close  with  a  summary  record  of 
David's  w'ars  and  of  the  chief  officials  of  his  court ;  see  Introduction, 
sects,  iv  and  v).  Ch.  vii  is  of  an  entirely  different  cast  from  the 
rest,  and,  as  will  appear,  comes  from  a  source  apart.  The  whole 
falls  naturally  into  five  sections,  the  extent  and  contents  of  which 
are  given  below. 

(a)  Ch.  i.  How  David  received  the  tidings  of  SaiW s  death,  with  his 
lament  over  Saul  and  Jonathan. 

In  the  first  part  of  this  chapter  we  have  an  account  of  the 
manner  of  Saul's  death,  which  in  several  points  contradicts  that 
given  in  the  preceding  chapter  (see  the  notes).  The  explanation 
that  first  occurs  to  one  is  that  the  Amalekite  youth,  prowling  on 
the  battlefield  in  search  of  loot,  came  upon  the  body  of  Saul  after 
the  events  of  i  .Sam.  xxxi.  4f.,  but  before  the  Philistines  had 
arrived  *  on  the  morrow  to  strip  the  slain'  {ibid.  8).  Taking  the 
crown  and  the  armlet  from  the  person  of  the  dead  king,  he  carried 
these  in  all  haste  to  David,  for  whose  benefit,  in  the  hope  of 
a  substantial  reward  (see  iv.  lo),  he  concocted  the  story  of  the  text 
A  closer  examination,  however,  throws  grave  doubts  upon  this, 
in  itself  plausible,  relation  of  the  two  accounts — the  one,  fact,  the 
other,  falsehood.  i)  Nothing  in  the  narrative  gives  the  slightest 
indication  that  the  messenger  was  romancing  ;  (a)  the  trustworthy 
passage,  iv.  gff. — from  the  same  source  as  ch.  xxxi — which  com- 
pares the  deserts  of  this  Amalekite  with  those  of  the  murderers  of 
Ish-bosheth,  docs  not  represent  the  former  as  claiming  to  have 


192  II   SAMUEL    1.  j-7.     M  T 

2  and  David  had  abode  two  days  in  Ziklag ;  it  came  even 
to  pass  on  the  third  day,  that,  behold,  a  man  came  out 
of  the  camp  from  Saul  with  his  clothes  rent,  and  earth 
upon  his  head :  and  so  it  was,  when  he  came  to  David, 

3  that  he  fell  to  the  earth,  and  did  obeisance.  And  David 
said  unto  him,  From  whence  comest  thou  ?   And  he  said 

4  unto  him,  Out  of  the  camp  of  Israel  am  I  escaped.  And 
David  said  unto  him,  How  went  the  matter  ?  I  pray  thee, 
tell  me.  And  he  answered,  The  people  are  fled  from  the 
battle,  and  many  of  the  people  also  are  fallen  and  dead ; 

5  and  Saul  and  Jonathan  his  son  are  dead  also.  And  David 
said  unto  the  young  man  that  told  him,  How  knowest  thou 

6  that  Saul  and  Jonathan  his  son  be  dead  ?  [T]  And  the 
young  man  that  told  him  said,  x\s  1  happened  by  chance 
upon  mount  Gilboa,  behold,  Saul  leaned  upon  his  spear ; 
and,  lo,  the  chariots  and  the  horsemen  followed  hard  after 

7  him.     iVnd  when  he  looked  behind  him,  he  saw  me,  and 

killed  Saul,  which  would  have  made  the  comparison  still  more 
apposite.  Indeed  the  words  of  iv.  ii,  ^  how  much  more,'  seem  to 
exclude  this  possibility,  and  in  the  previous  verse  David  claims  to 
have  slain  the  Amalekite  with  his  own  hand  (contrast  i.  15).  On 
the  whole,  therefore,  it  is  better  with  almost  all  recent  critics  to 
regard  verses  6-10,  13-16,  at  least,  as  representing  a  variant 
tradition  regarding  the  last  moments  of  the  unfortunate  king,  and 
David's  reception  of  the  messenger.  Verse  5  will  then  form  the 
editorial  joining  of  the  two  sources,  M  and  T,  while  1-4,  11,  la, 
17  ff.  will  represent  a  fairly  continuous  narrative,  in  which  Jonathan 
is  throughout  associated  with  Saul,  and  from  which  the  Amalekite 
has  disappeared. 

2.  a  man  oame  out  of  the  camp :  presumably  a  Hebrew 
soldier.  Cf.  the  identical  description  of  the  messenger  in  i  Sara, 
iv.  12,  and  note  the  similar  artistic  form  of  the  messages,  ibid.  17 
and  verse  4  below.  In  both  cases  the  reply  leads  up  to  a  climax, 
there  the  capture  of  the  Ark,  here  the  death  of  Saul  and  Jonathan, 

6ff.  The  tradition  here  inserted  gives  quite  a  different  picture 
of  Saul's  condition  at  the  close  of  the  battle  from  that  found  in 
I  Sam.  xxxi.  sff.  (1)  The  chariots  and  the  horsemen  take  the 
place  of  the  archers  of  the  older  narrative  ;  (2)  there  Saul  is 
undoubtedly  represented  as  wounded  ;see  note  on  xxxi.  3"),  here 


II   SAMUEL  1.  8-14.     TMT  193 

called  unto  me.     And  I  answered,  Here  am  I.     And  he  8 
said  unto  me,  Who  art  thou  ?    And  I  answered  him,  I  am 
an  Amalekite.    And  he  said  unto  me.  Stand,  I  pray  thee,  9 
beside  me,  and  slay  me,  for  anguish  hath  taken  hold  of 
me;  because  my  life  is  yet  whole  in  me.     So  I  stood  10 
beside  him,  and  slew  him,  because  I  was  sure  that  he 
could  not  live  after  that  he  was  fallen  :  and  I  took  the 
crown  that  was  upon  his  head,  and  the  bracelet  that  was 
on  his  arm,  and  have  brought  them  hither  unto  my  lord. 
[M]  Then  David  took  hold  on  his  clothes,  and  rent  them  ;  n 
and  likewise  all  the  men  that  were  with  him  :  and  they  12 
mourned,  and  wept,  and  fasted  until  even,  for  Saul,  and 
for  Jonathan  his  son,  and  for  the  people  of  the  Lord, 
and  for  the  house  of  Israel ;  because  they  were  fallen  by 
the  sword.     [T]  And  David  said  unto  the  young  man  that  13 
told  him,  Whence  art  thou?   And  he  answered,  I  am  the 
son  of  a  stranger,  an  Amalekite.     And  David  said  unto  14 


as  standing  leaning  on  his  spear  apparently  unhurt  (verse  9  end), 
but  seized  with  giddiness  or  cramp. 

9.  The  meaning  of  the  word  rendered  angfuish  is  quite  un- 
certain ;  '  cramp,'  and  '  dizziness  '  or  *  giddiness  '  (RA'.  marg.) 
have  been  proposed.  The  last  clause  appears,  as  we  have  seen, 
to  indicate  that  Saul  was  otherwise  uninjured. 

10.  after  that  he  was  fallen  :  apparently  as  the  result  of  the 
giddiness,  even  as  he  talked  with  the  Amalekite. 

the  bracelet:  rather,  'armlet,'  an  ornament  worn  on  the 
upper  part  of  the  arm.  The  armlet  and  the  diadem  are  again 
named  together  as  insignia  of  royalty  in  the  true  text  of  2  Kings 
xi.  12,  see  Skinner's  Commentary  (Century  Bible). 

12.  the  people  of  the  LORD  must  here,  if  the  text  is  correct, 
denote  the  army,  the  Lord's  '  consecrated  ones '  (see  on  i  Sam. 
xiii.  9),  but  probably,  in  view  of  the  following  clause,  we  should 
read  with  LXX,  'the  people  of  Judah.' 

13.  I  am  the  son  of  a  strang'er  {Heh.ger)  :  the  technical  term 
for  a  non-Israelite  admitted  to  a  modified  civil  status  with  corre- 
sponding rights.  See  'Stranger  and  Sojourner,'  EBt.  iv,  and 
Bertholet's  standard  treatise,  Die  Stellung  der  JsraeUien  zn  den 
Frentdcv,  29  ff.,  where  this  passage  is  fully  discussed. 


194  H   SAMUEL  1.  15-18.     TM 

him,  How  wast  thou  not  afraid  to  put  forth  thine  hand  to 

15  destroy  the  Lord's  anointed?  And  David  called  one  of 
the  young  men,  and  said,  Go  near,  and  fall  upon  him. 

16  And  he  smote  him  that  he  died.  And  David  said  unto 
him.  Thy  blood  be  upon  thy  head ;  for  thy  mouth  hath 
testified  against  thee,  saying,  I  have  slain  the  Lord's 
anointed. 

17  [M]  And  David  lamented  with  this  lamentation  over 

18  Saul  and  over  Jonathan  his  son  :    and  he  bade  them 

15  f.  The  older  tradition  in  iv.  9  f .  represents  David  as  person- 
ally  inflicting  the  death  penalty  upon  the  *  man '  (verse  2)  for 
presuming  that  David  would  rejoice  in  his  country's  loss  and  for 
hinting,  perhaps,  at  a  suitable  reward. 

i.  17-27.     David's  lament  over  Saul  and  Jonathan. 

That  David  was  in  truth  the  author  of  this  noble  elegy,  as  of 
the  shorter  lament  for  Abner(iii.  3f.),  is  allowed  by  all  save  a  few 
recent  critics  of  the  extremer  sort.  Next  to  the  Song  of  Deborah 
in  Judges  v,  it  is  the  oldest  surviving  specimen  of  early  Hebrew 
poetry  of  moderate  extent.  At  first  transmitted  orally,  we  ma}'' 
suppose,  it  found  a  place  in  the  national  collection  of  poetrj'', 
which  bore  the  title  of  the  Book  of  Jashar  (see  on  verse  18),  from 
which  it  was  probably  extracted  by  the  author  of  M,  Unfortunately 
the  text  in  many  places  is  corrupt  beyond  hope  of  recovery.  Only 
a  few  of  the  more  probable  of  the  emendations  suggested  by 
recent  scholars  can  find  a  place  in  the  brief  notes  that  follow. 
With  all  this  uncertainty  in  points  of  detail,  the  poem  stands  out 
as  the  genuine  outpouring  of  a  noble  heart,  a  heart  too  great  to 
harbour  one  selfish  thought  in  this  dark  hour  of  his  country's 
humiliation.  This  Hebrew  In  Memoriam  falls  easily  into  two 
parts.  In  the  first  (verses  ig-22),  the  poet  gives  expression 
to  the  thought  of  the  death  of  Saul  and  Jonathan  as  a  crowning- 
misfortune  to  the  nation  of  Israel.  In  the  second  (23-27),  the 
personal  virtues  of  the  fallen  heroes  are  commemorated,  the  poem 
reaching  its  most  personal  and  most  passionate  note  in  David's 
immortal  tribute  to  the  love  of  his  'brother,'  Jonathan. 

17.  David  lamented  with  this  lamentation:  better,  'chanted 
this  lament,'  in  Hebrew  '  this  kind ' — the  technical  term  for  the 
lament  for  the  dead  chanted  by  professional  mourners  (2  Chron. 
XXXV.  25),  usually  women  (Jer.  ix,  7). 

18.  By  inserting  the  words  '  the  song  of  before '  the  bow,'  the 
Revisers  have  sought  to  make  sense  of  an  unintelligible  text, 
perpetuating  an  unfounded  conjecture  that  the  poem  was  known 


II   SAMUEL    1.  19-21.     M  195 

teach  the  children  of  Judah  the  song  of  the  bow  :  behold, 
it  is  written  in  the  book  of  Jashar. 

Thy  glory,  O  Israel,  is  slain  upon  thy  high  places  !     19 

How  are  tlie  mighty  fallen  ! 

Tell  it  not  in  Gath,  20 

Publish  it  not  in  the  streets  of  Ashkelon  ; 

Lest  the  daughters  of  the  Philistines  rejoice, 

Lest  the  daughters  of  the  uncircumcised  triumph. 

Ye  mountains  of  Gilboa,  21 


as  '  the  song  of  the  bow  '  from  the  incidental  reference  in  verse  22. 
Three  points  are  nov/  generally  conceded  :  (i)  the  two  halves  of 
the  verse  have  been  transposed,  the  second  half  belonging  rather 
to  the  preceding  verse  ;  (2)  the  verb  '  and  he  said '  (R.  V.  wrongly  : 
'and  he  bade  them')  must  refer  to  and  introduce  the  lament  itself, 
as  in  iii.  33  ;  (3)  the  words  that  follow  this  verb  are  a  corruption  of 
the  first  line  or  lines  of  the  elegy  (see  below). 

the  book  of  Jashar  :  R.V.  marg.  '  the  book  of  The  Upright.' 
No  completely  satisfactory  explanation  of  the  name  has  yet  been 
found.  From  the  other  two  extracts  from  the  same  source, 
Joshua  X.  12-14  and  i  Kings  viii.  12  f.  according  to  the  true  text 
(for  which  see  Skinner's  Commentary  in  this  series),  it  was 
evidently  a  collection  of  national  poetrj',  compiled  in  or  soon  after 
the  reign  of  Solomon.  The  clause,  as  has  just  been  said,  properly 
forms  the  conclusion  of  verse  17. 

19.  The  opening  line  or  stichos  is  almost  certainly  to  be  found 
in  the  first  half  of  the  preceding  verse.  The  poem  appears  to  run 
in  quatrains,  and  Klostermann's  emendation  has  been  generally 
approved,  thus  :  '  And  he  said  (cf.  iii.  33*) : 

Hear,  O  Judah,  hard  things, 
Be  grieved,  O  Israel. 
Upon  thy  heights  (lie)  the  slain  ; 
How  are  the  mighty  fallen  ! ' 

The  changes  in  the  received  text  required  to  give  this  excellent 
sense  do  not  extend  beyond  one  or  two  consonants. 

20.  The  second  quatrain  anticipates  the  receipt  of  the  evil 
tidings  in  the  cities  of  the  Philistines,  and  the  songs  of  the  women 
at  the  victors'  home-coming  (cf.  i  Sam.  xviii.  6).  The  two 
distichs  of  which  it  is  composed  afford  an  excellent  illustration  of 
the  parallelism,  or  repetition  of  the  same  thought  in  a  somewhat 
different  form,  which  is  the  outstanding  characteristic  of  Hebrew 
poetry. 

O    2 


196  II   SAMUEL  1.  22-24.     M 

Let  there  be  no  dew  nor  rain  upon  you,  neither 

fields  of  offerings : 
For  there  the  shield  of  the  mighty  was  vilely  cast 

away, 
The  shield  of  Saul,  not  anointed  with  oil. 
From  the  blood  of  the  slain,  from  the  fat  of  the 

mighty, 
The  bow  of  Jonathan  turned  not  back, 
And  the  sword  of  Saul  returned  not  empty. 
Saul  and  Jonathan  were  lovely  and  pleasant  in  their 

lives, 
And  in  their  death  they  were  not  divided ; 
They  were  swifter  than  eagles, 
They  were  stronger  than  lions. 
Ye  daughters  of  Israel,  weep  over  Saul, 
Who  clothed  you  in  scarlet  delicately, 

21.  In  the  third  quatrain  a  curse  is  pronounced  upon  the.  scene 
of  the  disaster. 

fields  of  offerings  :  a  doubtful  reading,  and  moreover  most 
inappropriate  to  the  rock-strewn  ridge  of  Gilboa.  *  Mountains  of 
death'  (Lucian  and  Old  Lat),  or  '  fields  of  death '  (H.  P.  Smith), 
would  be  more  in  place. 

not  anointed  with  oil :  i.  e.  to  keep  the  leather  in  good 
condition,  a  trivial  thought !  Perhaps,  with  Budde,  we  should 
omit  '  not,*  and  read  :  '  the  shield  of  Saul,  (once)  anointed  with 
oil,'  referring  to  the  formal  consecration  of  the  warrior  and  his 
weapons  at  the  opening  of  a  campaign  (Isa.  xxi.  5  ;  see  on  i  Sam. 
xxi.  5). 

22.  The  brave  deeds  of  Saul  and  Jonathan  are  now  commem- 
orated. The  first  line  of  R.  V.  should  be  printed  in  two  lines,  as 
the  parallelism  and  the  four-line  (quatrain)  measure  require. 

23  flf.  The  second  part  is  devoted  to  the  personal  characteristics 
of  the  two  heroes,  first  together,  then  Saul  and  Jonathan  indi- 
vidually.    The  first  distich  should  be  rendered  : 

Saul  and  Jonathan,  the  loved  and  the  lovely, 
(As)  in  life,  so  in  death,  they  were  not  divided. 
The  points  of  comparison  in  the  second  distich  are  the  swiftness 
and  irresistibleness  of  the  heroes'  attack. 

24.  The  public  lamentation  for  the  dead  was  the  special  busi- 


II   SAMUEL  1.  25—2.  i.     M  197 

Who  put  ornaments  of  gold  upon  your  apparel. 
How  are  the  mighty  fallen  in  the  midst  of  the  battle  !  25 
Jonathan  is  slain  upon  thy  high  places. 
I  am  distressed  for  thee^  my  brother  Jonathan :  26 

Very  pleasant  hast  thou  been  unto  me  : 
Thy  love  to  me  was  wonderful, 
Passing  the  love  of  women. 

How  are  the  mighty  fallen,  37 

And  the  weapons  of  war  perished ! 
And  it  came  to  pass  after  this,  that  David  inquired  of  2 


ness  of  the  women,  who  are  here  reminded  of  their  share  in  the 
spoil  which  Saul  had  assigned  them. 

25.  The  first  distich  leads  up  to  the  climax  of  the  elegy,  the 
passionate  outburst  of  grief  over  the  untimely  fate  of  Jonathan. 
The  second  is  now  so  mutilated  as  to  occupy  but  a  single  line,  and 
can  only  be  conjecturally  restored.  The  reference  to  verse  19 
generally  found  in  the  words  is  slain  upon  thy  high  places  is 
too  remote.  The  same  consonants  yield  'by  thy  death  (Lucian, 
Budde)  is  pierced  '  ;  hence  we  read  tentatively  : 

How  are  the  mighty  fallen 

In    the  midst  of  the  battlvi ! 
Jonathan,  my  heart  (?)  by  thy  death 

Is  pierced  through. 

This  preserves  the  alternation  of  three  and  two  beats  characteristic 
of  the  Hebrew  elegiac  verse^ 

26.  The  text,  as  elsewhere,  is  not  free  from  difficult}'.  Jona- 
than, in  the  first  line,  exceeds  the  measure  and  is  not  required. 

27.  The  lament  ends  with  a  couplet  repeating  the  main  theme. 
The  parallelism  suggests  that  in  the  weapons  of  war  we  have 
a  figure  for  Saul  and  Jonathan. 

As  has  frequently  been  pointed  out,  the  poem  is  marked  by  an 
entire  absence  of  religious  feeling.  *  The  feeling  expressed  by  it 
is  purely  human'  (Driver),  and  in  this  characteristic  we  have  the 
best  guarantee  of  its  genuineness.  No  later  poet,  writing  when 
the  character  of  David  had  begun  to  be  idealized— as  was  soon 
the  case — would  have  put  into  David's  mouth  sentiments  which, 
exquisitely  tender  as  they  are,  are  so  entirely  seculf.r. 

(6)  ii  — iv.  David,  King  of  Jiidah  in  Hebron^  and  the  story  of  the 
Civil  War. 

The  fragmentary  nature  of  the  record  which  the  compiler  of 


198  II   SAMUEL  2.  2-5.     M 

the  Lord,  saying,  Shall  I  go  up  into  any  of  the  cities  of 
Judah?  And  the  Lord  said  unto  him.  Go  up.  And 
David  said,  Whither  shall  I  go  up?   And  he  said,  Unto 

2  Hebron.  So  David  went  up  thither,  and  his  two  wives 
also,  Ahinoam  the  Jezreelitess,  and  Abigail  the  wife  of 

3  Nabal  the  Carmelite.  And  his  men  that  were  with  him 
did  David  bring  up,  every  man  with  his  household  :  and 

4  they  dwelt  in  the  cities  of  Hebron.  And  the  men  of 
Judah  came,  and  there  they  anointed  David  king  over 
the  house  of  Judah. 

And  they  told  David,  saying.  The  men  of  Jabesh-gilead 

5  were  they  that  buried  Saul.  And  David  sent  messengers 
unto  the  men  of  Jabesh-gilead,  and  said  unto  them, 

Samuel  has  here  preserved  for  us  renders  it  no  longer  possible  to 
construct  a  thoroughly  consistent  account  of  the  events  of  the 
critical  period  during  which  David  made  himself  master  of  the 
united  tribes  of  Israel.  Especially  difficult  is  the  question  of  his 
relations  with  the  victorious  Philistines.  These,  we  may  be  sure, 
did  not  stand  aside  in  complacent  indifference  while  David  fought 
his  way  to  the  throne.  Rather,  we  must  suppose  that  at  jfirst 
David  continued  as  before  in  a  position  of  dependence,  as  king  by 
the  grace  of  the  Philistines,  and  that  only  when  he  had  strength- 
ened his  position  by  war  and  diplomacy  did  he  break  with  his 
powerful  suzerains. 

ii.  1-4*.  David  anointed  in  Hebron  as  king  over  the  house  of 
Judah. 

1.  David  now,  as  always  before  taking  any  important  step  in 
his  career,  seeks  to  ascertain  the  Divine  will  by  means  of  the 
ephod-oracle.  Note  the  series  of  questions  as  in  i  Sam.  xxiii.  2ff., 
gff.,  XXX.  7  f.,  where  see  notes. 

Heljron,  now  El-Khalil  (the  friend)— a  contraction  for  'the 
city  of  the  friend  of  God,'  viz.  Abraham — about  twenty  miles  by  road 
from  Jerusalem,  was  the  chief  city  of  Judah,  and,  as  the  name 
implies,  the  centre  of  the  league  or  confederation  of  the  clans  of 
Judah,  Caleb,  &c. 

4.  His  own  clansmen,  as  we  should  expect,  were  the  first  to 
recognize  in  David  the  man  whom  the  time  required.  For  the 
significance  of  the  rite  of  anointing,  sec  on  i  Sam.  x.  1. 

ii.  4^-7.  David's  message  of  thanks  to  tlie  men  of  Jabesh-gilead 
(cf.  I  Sam.  xxxi.  1 1  ff.  with  the  notes). 


II   SAMUEL  2.  6-10.     M  199 

Blessed  be  ye  of  the  Lord,  that  ye  have  shewed  this 
kindness  unto  your  lord,  even  unto  Saul,  and  have  buried 
him.  And  now  the  Lord  shew  kindness  and  truth  unto  6 
you :  and  I  also  will  requite  you  this  kindness,  because 
ye  have  done  this  thing.  Now  therefore  let  your  hands  7 
be  strong,  and  be  ye  valiant :  for  Saul  your  lord  is  dead, 
and  also  the  house  of  Judah  have  anointed  me  king  over 
them. 

Now  Abner  the  son  of  Ner,  captain  of  Saul's  host,  had  8 
taken  Ish-bosheth  the  son  of  Saul,  and  brought  him  over 
to  Mahanaim ;  and  he  made  him  king  over  Gilead,  and  9 
over  the  Ashurites,  and  over  Jezreel,  and  over  Ephraim, 
and  over  Benjamin,  and  over  all  Israel.     (Ish-bosheth  10 
Saul's  son  was  forty  years  old  when  he  began  to  reign 


5.  this  kindness :  better,  '  this  pious  act ' ;  the  proper  burial  of 
the  dead  was  regarded  by  the  Semites,  as  by  other  ancient  peoples, 
as  a  true  act  of  piety. 

*7.  In  sending  this  royal  message  David  was  doubtless  actuated 
by  motives  of  policy  as  well  as  by  gratitude.  Here,  lor  the  first 
lime,  he  claims  to  be  Saul's  legitimate  successor,  and  hopes  for  the 
loyal  support  of  the  men  of  Gilead. 

ii.  8-1 1.  Abner  sets  up  a  rival  king. 

8.  Ish-bosheth:  *  man  of  shame, 'a  disguised  and  disfigured  form 
of  the  name  Ish-baal  (see  i  Chron.  viii.  33,  ix,  39).  In  early  times 
the  title  ba'al  (lord)  was  quite  innocently  applied  to  Yahweh,  but 
on  account  of  the  associations  of  the  title  with  the  Canaanite  deities 
and  their  worship  (see  on  i  Sam.  vii.  4)  this  application  was 
afterwards  discontinued.  To  mark  their  abhorrence  of  the  name 
later  editors  substituted  in  this  and  other  proper  names  the  word 
for  'shame.'  Cf.  Mephibosheth  (iv.  4),  which  shows  a  double 
disguise. 

Mahanaun  lay  to  the  north  of  the  Jabbok  (Gen.  xxxii.  2),  but 
the  exact  site  is  still  in  dispute.  Mahneh  and  Ajlun  have  the 
best  claims  (see  the  dictionaries).  In  Solomon's  day  it  was  Still, 
as  here,  the  capital  of  Gilead  (i  Kings  iv.  14). 

9.  over  the  Ashurites  :  read,  '  the  Asherites '  (Judges  i.  32), 
the  men  of  Asher,  the  dominant  tribe  north  of  the  great  plain, 
riie  '  Geshu rites  '  of  R.  V.  marg.  are  excluded  by  the  fact  that 
they  had  their  own  king  (iii.  3). 

10  f.  The  part  within  parentheses  so  manifestly    breaks    the 


200  II   SAMUEL  2.  ii~i6.     M 

over  Israel,  and  he  reigned  two  years.)     But  the  house 

11  of  Judah  followed  David.  And  the  time  that  David  was 
king  in  Hebron  over  the  house  of  Judah  was  seven  years 
and  six  months. 

12  And  Abner  the  son  of  Ner,  and  the  servants  of 
Ish-bosheth  the  son  of  Saul,  went  out  from  Mahanaim 

13  to  Gibeon.  And  Joab  the  son  of  Zeruiah,  and  the 
servants  of  David,  went  out,  and  met  them  by  the  pool 
of  Gibeon ;  and  they  sat  down,  the  one  on  the  one  side 
of  the  pool,  and  the  other  on  the  other  side  of  the  pool. 

14  And  Abner  said  to  Joab,  Let  the  young  men,  I  pray  thee, 
arise  and  play  before  us.     And  Joab  said.  Let  them  arise. 

15  Then  they  arose  and  went  over  by  number;  twelve  for 
Benjamin,  and  for  Ish-bosheth  the   son   of  Saul,  and 

16  twelve  of  the  servants  of  David.  And  they  caught  every 
one  his  fellow  by  the  head,  and  thrust  his  sword  in  his 

connexion  between  9  and  10'',  that  it  must  be  taken  along  with 
the  similar  note  in  verse  11  as  an  editorial  insertion  (cf.  v.  4  f.). 
It  is  very  doubtful  if  Saul  could  have  had  a  younger  son  of  such 
mature  age.  In  any  case  his  reign  must  have  more  nearly  coin- 
cided with  that  of  David  in  Hebron  than  is  here  stated. 

ii.  12-32.    The  first  battle  of  the  Civil  War  and  the  death  of  Asahel. 

12.  Gibeon:  now  El-fib,  in  Benjamin,  about  six  miles  north- 
west of  Jerusalem.  Probably  Ish-bosheth  had  come  to  an  under- 
standing with  the  Philistines  by  which,  under  their  suzerainty, 
he  was  acknowledged  as  king  over  North  Israel.  By  playing  off 
the  two  vassal-kings  of  the  north  and  the  south  against  each 
other,  the  Philistines  no  doubt  hoped  to  maintain  their  hold  over 
the  country. 

13.  Joab  the  son  of  Zeruiah,  David's  nephew  (see  on  i  Sam. 
xxvi.  6)— the  first  appearance  on  the  scene  of  David's  masterful 
but  devoted  general,  who  plays  so  prominent  a  part  in  the  whole 
after  history  of  the  time. 

14  f.  Abner  proposes  a  display  of  mimic  warfare.  Such,  rather 
than  a  proposal  to  settle  the  dispute  by  a  serious  combat,  seems 
the  meaning  of  the  words  used.  Unfortunately  the  mimic  display 
turned  to  stern  reality. 

16.  The  two  parties,  apparently,  were  to  contend  in  pairs, 
a  man  from  either  side.     But  at  the  first  onset  each  combatant 


II   SAMUEL  2.  17-33.     M  201 

fellow's  side  ;  so  they  fell  down  together :  wherefore  that 
place  was  called  Helkath-hazzurim,  which  is  in  Gibeon. 
And  the  battle  was  very  sore  that  day;  and  Abner  was  17 
beaten,  and  the  men  of  Israel,  before  the  servants  of 
David.     And  the  three  sons  of  Zeruiah  were  there,  Joab,  iS 
and  Abishai,  and  Asahel :   and  Asahel  was  as  light  of 
foot  as  a  wild  roe.     And  Asahel  pursued  after  Abner;  19 
and  in  going  he  turned  not  to  the  right  hand  nor  to  the 
left  from  following  Abner.     Then  Abner  looked  behind  20 
him,  and  said,  Is  it  thou,  Asahel  ?   And  he  answered,  It 
is  I.     And  Abner  said  to  him,  Turn  thee  aside  to  thy  21 
right  hand  or  to  thy  left,  and  lay  thee  hold  on  one  of  the 
young   men,   and  take   thee   his   armour.     But   Asahel 
would  not  turn  aside  from  following  of  him.     And  Abner  22 
said  again  to  Asahel,  Turn  thee  aside  from  following  me  : 
wherefore  should  I  smite  thee  to  the  ground  ?  how  then 
should  I  hold  up  my  face  to  Joab  thy  brother?   Howbeit  23 
he  refused  to  turn  aside  :  wherefore  Abner  with  the  hinder 
end  of  the  spear  smote  him  in  the  belly,  that  the  spear 
came  out  behind  him ;  and  he  fell  down  there,  and  died 

treacherously  '  caught  his  opponent  by  the  head  with  his  hand ' 
(so  LXX),  and  plunged  his  sword  into  liis  side,  the  whole  twenty- 
four  falling  together, 

Helkath-hazzurim  :  *  the  field  of  sword-edges  '  (Driver  ;  cf. 
R.  V.  marg.  and  Ps.  Ixxxix.  43).  The  LXX  read  Helkath- 
hazzodim  '  the  field  of  the  plotters,'  which  is  more  appropriate. 

1*7.  On  seeing  the  tragic  issue  of  the  'play,'  the  main  body  of 
troops  on  either  side  at  once  joined  battle.  The  narrator'3 
interest,  however,  is  centred  in  an  incident  that  followed,  out  of 
which  were  to  develop  important  results  for  the  future. 

2 Iff.  Asahel  rejects  the  advice  of  the  older  and  more  experi- 
enced swordsman  to  be  content  with  a  lesser  prey,  and  falls 
a  victim  to  his  rashness. 

23.  with  the  hinder  end  of  the  spear :  read,  by  a  slight 
change,  'Abner  smote  him  with  a  backward  stroke,'  &c.  (Klos- 
termann).  Without  slackening  his  pace,  Abner  delivers  a  powerful 
thrust  backwards  with  his  long  sharp-pointed  spear,  piercing  his 
pursuer  through  and  through. 


202  II   SAMUEL  2.  24-30.     M 

in  the  same  place :  and  it  came  to  pass,  that  as  many  as 
came  to  the  place  where  Asahel  fell  down  and  died  stood 

24  still.  But  Joab  and  Abishai  pursued  after  Abner :  and 
the  sun  went  down  when  they  were  come  to  the  hill  of 
Ammah,  that  lieth  before  Giah  by  the  way  of  the  wilder- 

25  ness  of  Gibeon.  And  the  children  of  Benjamin  gathered 
themselves  together  after  Abner,  and  became  one  band, 

26  and  stood  on  the  top  of  an  hill.  Then  Abner  called  to 
Joab,  and  said.  Shall  the  sword  devour  for  ever  ?  know- 
est  thou  not  that  it  will  be  bitterness  in  the  latter  end  ? 
how  long  shall  it  be  then,  ere  thou  bid  the  people  return 

27  from  following  their  brethren?  And  Joab  said,  As  God 
liveth,  if  thou  hadst  not  spoken,  surely  then  in  the 
morning  the  people  had  gone  away,  nor  followed  every 

28  one  his  brother.  So  Joab  blew  the  trumpet,  and  all  the 
people  stood  still,  and  pursued  after  Israel  no  more, 

29  neither  fought  they  any  more.  And  Abner  and  his  men 
went  all  that  night  through  the  Arabah ;  and  they  passed 
over  Jordan,  and  went  through  all  Bithron,  and  came  to 

50  Mahanaim.  And  Joab  returned  from  following  Abner : 
and  when  he  had  gathered  all  the  people  together,  there 
lacked  of  David's  servants  nineteen  men  and  Asahel. 

24.  The  topography  is  obscured  by  the  uncertainty  of  the  text. 
Neither  the  hill  of  Ammah  nor  Giah  is  mentioned  elsewhere. 

25.  on  the  top  of  an  hill:  read,  'on  the  top  of  the  hill  of 
Ammah.' 

26.  Abner  appeals  to  Joab  to  stay  the  pursuit  and  so  prevent 
further  bloodshed.  The  Revisers,  by  their  marginal  reference  to 
Abner's  proposal  in  verse  14,  interpret  Joab's  ansu'er  as  throwing 
the  blame  for  the  day's  work  on  the  former.  The  context,  how- 
ever, shows  that  '  Joab,  though  ruthless,  is  not  altogether  without 
conscience,*  since  he  declares  that,  but  for  Abner's  intervention 
now,  he  would  have  continued  the  pursuit  until  next  morning. 

29.  through  (i.  e.  along)  the  Arabah  or  Jordan  valley  (see  on 
I  Sam.  xxiii.  24).  Crossing  the  Jordan  they  followed  the  course 
of  the  Bithron  {lit.  'ravine'),  probably  a  narrow  valley  at  the 
head  of  which  stood  Mahanaim  (cf.  verse  8  above). 


II   SAMUEL   2.31-3.6.     MRM  203 

But  the  servants  of  David  had  smitten  of  Benjamin,  and  31 
of  Abner's  men,  so  that  three  hundred  and  threescore 
men  died.     And  they  took  up  Asahel,  and  buried  him  32 
in  the  sepulchre  of  his  father,  which  was  in  Beth-lehem. 
And  Joab  and  his  men  went  all  night,  and  the  day  brake 
upon  them  at  Hebron. 

[R]  Now  there  was  long  war  between  the  house  of  Saul  3 
and  the  house  of  David  :  and  David  waxed  stronger  and 
stronger,  but  the  house  of  Saul  waxed  weaker  and  weaker. 

And  unto  David  were  sons  born  in  Hebron :  and  his  2 
firstborn  was  Amnon,  of  Ahinoam  the  J  ezreelitess ;  and  3 
his  second,  Chileab,  of  Abigail  the  wife  of  Nabal  the 
Carmelite;  and  the  third,  Absalom  the  son  of  Maacah 
the  daughter  of  Talmai  king  of  Geshur  \  and  the  fourth,  4 
Adonijah  the  son  of  Haggith ;  and  the  fifth,  Shephatiah 
the  son  of  Abital ;    and  the  sixth,   Ithream,  of  Eglah  5 
David's  wife.     These  were  born  to  David  in  Hebron. 

[M]  And  it  came  to  pass,  while  there  was  war  between  6 
the  house  of  Saul  and  the  house  of  David,  that  Abner 

iii.  1.  A  statement,  probably  from  the  pen  of  the  compiler, 
summarizing  the  fuller  record  of  the  Civil  War  which  lay  before 
him  in  his  source  (M). 

2-5.  A  family  register  (i  Chron.  iii.  1-4)  similar  to  that  given 
V.  13-16,  bolh  owing  their  present  form,  in  all  probability,  to  the 
compiler  (R).  In  addition  to  the  two  wives  whom  he  had  at  the 
date  of  his  installation  (ii.  2  ,  David  took  to  himself  other  four, 
each  of  the  six  bearing  him  one  son.  The  eldest  was  Amnon, 
whom  we  shall  meet  later  (xiii.  i  ff.) ;  Cliileab  has  the  same 
consonants  as  Caleb,  recalling  the  fact  that  his  mother  was  of  the 
clan  of  the  Calebites  (i  Sam.  xxv.  3).  Adonijali  became  in  the 
course  of  events  Solomon's  rival  for  the  throne  (i  Kings  i.  4  ff.). 

3.  Geshur  :  a  petty  kingdom  in  the  district  now  known  as  the 
Jauldn,  N.  E.  of  the  Sea  of  Galilee  (cf.  on  x.  6). 

iii.  6-16.     Abner's  quarrel  with  Ish-baal  and  Us  cofisequciucs. 
6.  Abner  made  himself  strong*  in  the  house  of  Saul :   the 

precise  meaning   is   doubtful;   cither,    as   R.  V.    marg..    he   was 


264  II   SAMUEL   3.  7-1  r.     M 

7  made  himself  strong  in  the  house  of  Saul.  Now  Saul  had 
a  concubine,  whose  name  was  Rizpah,  the  daughter  of 
Aiah  :  and  Ish-bosheth  said  to  Abner,  Wherefore  hast  thou 

8  gone  in  unto  my  father's  concubine  ?  Then  was  Abner 
very  wroth  for  the  words  of  Ish-bosheth,  and  said,  Am  I 
a  dog's  head  that  belongeth  to  Judah?  This  day  do  I 
shew  kindness  unto  the  house  of  Saul  thy  father,  to  his 
brethren,  and  to  his  friends,  and  have  not  delivered  thee 
into  the  hand  of  David,  and  yet  thou  chargest  me  this 

9  day  with  a  fault  concerning  this  woman.  God  do  so  to 
Abner,  and  more  also,  if,  as  the  Lord  hath  sworn  to 

10  David,  I  do  not  even  so  to  him ;  to  translate  the 
kingdom  from  the  house  of  Saul,  and  to  set  up  the 
throne  of  David  over  Israel  and  over  Judah,  from  Dan 

11  even  to  Beer-sheba.  And  he  could  not  answer  Abner 
another  word,  because  he  feared  him. 

a  tower  of  strength  in  defence  of  the  house  of  Saul,  a  sense 
which  the  verb  has  in  x.  12  ('  let  us  play  the  man  for  '),  or  showed 
himself  powerful,  overbearing  in  connexion  with  the  house  or 
party  of  Saul.  The  latter  gives  a  better  introduction  to  the 
particular  case  of  arrogance  about  to  be  related. 

*J  f.  Rizpah,  the  daugrhter  of  Aiah :  the  heroine  of  the  tragedy 
of  ch.  xxi.  Ish-baal's  remonstrance  was  no  doubt  based  on  other 
than  moral  grounds  (see  note  on  xii.  8),  although  it  suited  Abner 
to  affect  to  regard  it  as  a  trifling  affair  of  morals,  which  should 
never  have  been  brought  up  against  a  man  of  his  position  and 
merits. 

8.  that  belongreth  to  Judah  :  wanting  in  LXX,  and  generally 
regarded  as  an  addition  here  by  a  scribe  who  read  keleh  (dog)  as 
kaleh — the  old  Hebrew  text  had  no  vowels  — i.  e.  Caleb,  the  clan 
afterwards  incorporated  with  the  tribe  of  Judah. 

concerning'  this  woman :  better,    with  LXX,   '  concerning 
a  woman,'  a  mere  peccadillo,  as  explained  above. 

9f.  as  the  IiOBD  hath  sworn  to  David:  no  trace  of  the 
promise  here  referred  to  (cf.  verse  i8,  v.  2)  is  now  found  in  this 
document  (M).  Budde  would  connect  it  with  the  unrecorded 
oracle  given  by  Ahimelech,  see  i  Sam.  xxii.  10,  13,  15. 

11.  A  brief  but  significant  illustration  of  the  character  and 
position  of  this  roi faineant. 


II   SAMUEL    3.  12-18.     M  205 

And  Abner  sent  messengers  to  David  on  liis  behalf,  12 
saying,  Whose  is  the  land  ?   saying  a/so^  Make  thy  league 
with  me,  and,  behold,  my  hand  shall  be  with  thee,  to 
bring  about  all  Israel  unto  thee.     And  he  said.  Well ;  I  13 
will  make  a  league  with  thee :  but  one  thing  I  require  of 
thee,  that  is,  thou  shalt  not  see  my  face,  except  thou  first 
bring  Michal  Saul's  daughter,  when  thou  comest  to  see 
my  face.     And  David  sent  messengers  to  Ish-bosheth  14 
Saul's  son,  saying,  Deliver  me  my  wife  Michal,  whom  I 
betrothed  to  me  for  an  hundred  foreskins  of  the  Philis- 
tines.    And  Ish-bosheth  sent,  and  took  her  from  her  if, 
husband,  even  from  Paltiel  the  son  of  Laish.     And  her  16 
husband  went  with  her,  weeping  as  he  went,  and  followed 
her  to  Bahurim.     Then  said  Abner  unto  him,  Go,  return : 
and  he  returned. 

And  Abner   had  communication  with  the  elders  of  17 
Israel,  saying,  In  times  past  ye  sought  for  David  to  be  king 
over  you  :  now  then  do  it :  for  the  Lord  hath  spoken  of  1 8 
David,  saying.  By  the  hand  of  my  servant  David  I  will 
save  my  people  Israel  out  of  the  hand  of  the  Philistines, 

12.  Smarting  under  tlie  insult  of  his  puppet-king,  Abner  opens 
communications  with  David.  With  Klostermann  and  Budde  we 
should  probably  read  thus:  "And  Abner  sent  messengers  to 
David,  saying,  Under  my  hand  (a  slight  emendation  of  on  his 
behalf)  is  the  land  to  give  it  to  Vv'hom  I  please.'  This  forms  an 
admirable  introduction  to  what  follows,  and  is  in  keeping  with 
Abner's  estimate  of  himself  in  the  preceding  verses. 

13.  David  makes  the  restoration  of  Michal  the  indispensable 
pre]iminar3'  to  further  negotiations.  Apart  from  the  question  of 
legal  rights,  this  demand  was  a  matter  of  sound  policy  as  strength- 
ening his  claim  to  be  recognized  as  Saul's  successor. 

15.  Paltiel  the  son  of  Laish  :  see  on  i  Sam.  xxv.  44. 

16.  A  masterly  miniature  with  its  inimitable  contrast  between 
the  meek,  broken-hearted  husband  and  the  curt,  unsympathetic 
soldier.     For  Bahurim  see  on  xvi.  5,  xvii.  20. 

iii.  17-27.  The  progress  of  the  negotiatioHS,  ending  in  the  treacher- 
ous murder  of  Abner  by  Joab. 


2o6  II    SAMUEL  3.  19-26.     M 

19  and  out  of  the  hand  of  all  their  enemies.  And  Abner 
also  spake  in  the  ears  of  Benjamin  :  and  Abner  went  also 
to  speak  in  the  ears  of  David  in  Hebron  all  that  seemed 

20  good  to  Israel,  and  to  the  whole  house  of  Benjamin.  So 
Abner  came  to  David  to  Hebron,  and  twenty  men  with 
him.     And  David  made  Abner  and  the  men  that  were 

21  with  him  a  feast.  And  Abner  said  unto  David,  I  will 
arise  and  go,  and  will  gather  all  Israel  unto  my  lord  the 
king,  that  they  may  make  a  covenant  with  thee,  and  that 
thou  mayest  reign  over  all  that  thy  soul  desireth.     And 

22  David  sent  Abner  away;  and  he  went  in  peace.  And, 
behold,  the  servants  of  David  and  Joab  came  from  a 
foray,  and  brought  in  a  great  spoil  with  them  :  but  Abner 
was  not  with  David  in  Hebron ;  for  he  had  sent  him 

23  away,  and  he  was  gone  in  peace.  When  Joab  and  all 
the  host  that  was  with  him  were  come,  they  told  Joab, 
saying,  Abner  the  son  of  Ner  came  to  the  king,  and  he 

24  hath  sent  him  away,  and  he  is  gone  in  peace.  Then 
Joab  came  to  the  king,  and  said,  What  hast  thou  done  ? 
behold,  Abner  came  unto  thee ;  why  is  it  that  thou  hast 

25  sent  him  away,  and  he  is  quite  gone?  Thou  knowest 
Abner  the  son  of  Ner,  that  he  came  to  deceive  thee,  and 
to  know  thy  going  out  and  thy  coming  in,  and  to  know 

26  all  that  thou  doest.  And  when  Joab  was  come  out  from 
David,  he  sent  messengers  after  Abner,  and  they  brought 


19.  Saul's  tribe  of  Benjamin  is  specially  mentioned,  as  the 
quarter  from  which  opposition  to  Abner's  proposals  was  most  to 
be  expected. 

24  f.  The  first  of  several  occasions  on  which  Joab's  masterful 
spirit  asserts  itself  in  an  inexcusable  freedom  of  speech  and 
action  in  relation  to  his  sovereign.  There  was  no  ground,  so  far 
as  is  now  known,  for  this  charge  of  mala  fides  on  Abner's  part. 
It  is  by  no  means  improbable  that  David,  knowing  Joab's  jealous 
and  vindictive  character,  had  purposely  arranged  that  he  should 
be  absent  on  the  occasion  of  Abner's  visit. 


II   SAMUEL  3.  27-31.     M  207 

him  back  from  the  well  of  Sirah  ;  but  David  knew  it  not. 
And  when  Abner  was  returned  to  Hebron,  Joab  took  27 
him  aside  into  the  midst  of  the  gate  to  speak  with  him 
quietly,  and  smote  him  there  in  the  belly,  that  he  died, 
for  the  blood  of  Asahel   his  brother.     And  afterward  28 
when  David  heard  it_,  he  said,  I  and  my  kingdom  are 
guiltless  before  the  Lord  for  ever  from  the  blood  of 
Abner  the  son  of  Ner  :  let  it  fall  upon  the  head  of  Joab,  29 
and  upon  all  his  father's  house ;  and  let  there  not  fail 
from  the  house  of  Joab  one  that  hath  an  issue,  or  that  is 
a  leper,  or  that  leaneth  on  a  staff,  or  that  falleth  by  the 
sword,  or  that  lacketh  bread.     So  Joab  and  Abishai  his  30 
brother  slew  Abner,  because  he  had  killed  their  brother 
Asahel  at  Gibeon  in  the  battle. 

And  David  said  to  Joab,  and  to  all  the  people  that  31 

2*7.  into  the  midst  of  the  g'ate :  the  most  public  spot  in  the 
citj'  is  not  the  place  for  a  '■  quiet  word '  with  any  one.  Read, 
with  LXX,  '  to  the  side  of  the  gate,'  into  a  retired  corner.  The 
only  motive  for  this  act  of  treachery  given  by  the  narrator  is  that 
of  blood  revenge  (for  which  see  on  xiv.  7),  but  we  can  scarcelj^ 
leave  jealousy  out  of  account,  nor — to  be  perfectly  just  to  one  who 
with  all  his  faults  was  passionately  devoted  to  David's  cause — 
a  mistaken  zeal  for  what  he  considered  the  best  interests  of  his 
king  (see  verse  25). 

iii.  28-39.  David  protests  his  innocence  and  gives  Abner  honourable 
burial. 

David  follows  up  his  solemn  denial  of  complicity  in  the  murder 
of  Abner  by  an  exhaustive  curse  on  the  murderer  and  all  his  kin. 
The  reference  to  his  '  kingdom '  shows,  further,  that  he  was  alive 
to  the  misconstruction  which  might  be  put  upon  his  apparent  breach 
of  faith  by  public  opinion  generally,  and  especially  by  the  northern 
tribes. 

29.  that  leaneth  on  a  staff:  rather,  ^  that  holdeth  a  spindle.' 
There  is  an  evident  appropriateness  in  the  wish  that  the  de- 
scendants of  the  stern  soldier  may  be  womanish  and  effeminate. 
Loathsome  disease,  effeminacy,  bloodshed,  and  poverty  compose 
the  elements  of  this  terrible  imprecation. 

30  interrupts  the  narrative,  contradicts  verse  27,  and  is  there- 
fore regarded  on  all  hands  as  an  interpolation. 


2o8  II   SAMUEL  3.  32-38.     M 

were  with  him,  Rend  your  clothes,  and  gird  you  with 
sackcloth,  and  mourn  before  Abner.     And  king  David 

32  followed  the  bier.  And  they  buried  Abner  in  Hebron  : 
and  the  king  lifted  up  his  voice,  and  wept  at  the  grave  of 

33  Abner ;  and  all  the  people  wept.  And  the  king  lamented 
for  Abner,  and  said, 

Should  Abner  die  as  a  fool  dieth  ? 

34  Thy  hands  were  not  bound,  nor  thy  feet  put  into 

fetters  : 
As  a  man  falleth  before  the  children  of  iniquity,  so 
didst  thou  fall. 

35  And  all  the  people  wept  again  over  him.  And  all  the 
people  came  to  cause  David  to  eat  bread  while  it  was  yet 
day;  but  David  svvare,  saying,  God  do  so  to  me,  and 
more  also,  if  I  taste  bread,  or  aught  else,  till  the  sun  be 

36  down.  And  all  the  people  took  notice  of  it,  and  it 
pleased  them  :  as  whatsoever  the  king  did  pleased  all  the 

37  people.  So  all  the  people  and  all  Israel  understood  that 
day  that  it  was  not  of  the  king  to  slay  Abner  the  son  of 

38  Ner.  And  the  king  said  unto  his  servants.  Know  ye  not 
that  there  is  a  prince  and  a  great  man  fallen  this  day  in 


33  f.  The  lament  is  in  the  form  of  a  quatrain  (see  on  i.  17  ff.). 
Instead  of  the  usual  parallelism  of  successive  lines,  the  first  line 
here  corresponds  to  the  fourth,  the  second  to  the  third,  the  first 
line  of  verse  34  in  R.  V.  being  really  the  second  and  third  of  the 
quatrain. 

Should  Abner  die,  &c.  :  rather,  •  had  Abner  to  die  as  dies  the 
fool,'  that  is,  in  dishonour,  in  contrast  to  the  honourable  death  ol 
the  warrior.  Abner's  death  was  murder,  and  the  pity  of  it  was 
increased  by  the  treachery  which  prevented  him  raising  a  hand 
in  self-defence,  although  both  hands  and  feet  were  unfettered. 

38  f.  The  narrator  is  at  pains  to  show  that  David  succeeded  in 
clearing  himself  of  all  suspicion  of  complicity  in  the  murder,  not 
only  in  the  e3''es  of  his  own  people,  but  also  in  the  eyes  of 'all  Israel.* 

38  f.  After  a  generous  tribute  to  the  worth  of  Abner,  David — 
in  a  verse  the  first  part  of  which  has  been  variously  interpreted 
— excuses  his  inability  to  secure  the  punishment  of  Joab.     This 


II  Sx\MUEL  3.  39—4.  4.     M  209 

Israel  ?    And  I  am  this  day  weak,  though  anointed  king ;  39 
and  these  men  the  sons  of  Zeruiah  be  too  hard  for  me  :  the 
Lord  reward  the  wicked  doer  according  to  his  wickedness. 

And  when  Ish-bosheth^  Saul's  son,  heard  that  Abner  4 
was  dead  in  Hebron,  his  hands  became  feeble,  and  all  the 
Israelites  were  troubled.     And  Isk-bosheth,   Saul's  son,  2 
had  two  men  that  were  captains  of  bands  :  the  name  of 
the  one  was  Baanah,  and  the  name  of  the  other  Rechab, 
the  sons  of  Rimmon  the  Beerothite,  of  the  children  of 
Benjamin  :   (for  Beeroth  also  is  reckoned  to  Benjamin : 
and  the   Beerothites  fled  to  Gittaim,   and   have   been  3 
sojourners  there  until  this  day.) 

Now  Jonathan,  Saul's  son,  had  a  son  that  was  lame  of  4 
his  feet.     He  was  five  years  old  when  the  tidings  came 
of  Saul  and  Jonathan  out  of  Jezreel,  and  his  nurse  took 

he  has  perforce  to  leave  in  the  hand  of  God,  whom  he  prays  to 
*  requite  the  doer  of  evil  according  to  his  evil.' 

iv.  I- 1 2.      The  ass.issinaiton  of  Ish-baal  {Isk-bosheth). 

On  hearing  of  the  murder  of  Abner,  Ish-baal  and  his  supporters 
realize  that  their  cause  is  lost.  The  unfortunate  prince  is  sub- 
sequently assassinated  by  two  of  his  officers,  who  bring  his  head 
to  David  in  the  hope  of  a  reward,  but  are  treated  as  common 
criminals. 

2.  Beerotli:  usually  identified  with  El-hireh^  on  the  great 
north  road,  a  short  distance  south-east  of  Beth-el.  The  purpose 
of  the  parenthesis  is  to  explain  how  the  Canaanite  inhabitants  of 
Beeroth,  which  was  originally  a  member  of  the  Gibeonite  league 
(Josh.  ix.  17)  and  an  enclave  within  Benjamin,  had  been  compelled 
for  some  reason  to  flee  to  Gittaim,  an  unknown  locality,  where 
they  long  enjoyed  the  rights  of  hospitality  as  sojourners  (see  on 
i.  13).  Some  would  bring  this  incident  into  connexion  with  Saul's 
cruel  treatment  of  the  Gibeonites  as  recorded  in  xxi.  i  ff.,  and  see 
in  the  murder  of  Ish-baal  by  Baanah  and  Rechab  an  act  of  ven- 
geance. 

4.  Mephibosheth :  really  either  Merib-baal,  <  the  lord  (i.  e. 
Yahweh)  contends,'  as  i  Chron.  viii.  34,  ix.  40'^  or  more  probably 
Meri-baal,  '  the  lord's  ( Yahweh's^i  hero,*  as  in  the  Hebrew  text  of 
1  Cliron.  ix.  40*^.  For  the  motive  of  the  double  disguise  see  on 
ii.  8,  and  for  Meri  haul's  subsequent  history,  ix.  i  11. 


210  II   SAMUEL  4.  ^-g.     M 

him  up,  and  fled  :  and  it  came  to  pass,  as  she  made  haste 
to  flee,  that  he  fell,  and  became  lame.     And  his  name 
was  Mephibosheth. 
6      And  the  sons  of  Rimmon  the  Beerothite,  Rechab  and 
Baanah,  went,  and  came  about  the  heat  of  the  day  to  the 

6  house  of  Ish-bosheth,  as  he  took  his  rest  at  noon.  And 
they  came  thither  into  the  midst  of  the  house,  as  though 
they  would  have  fetched  wheat ;  and  they  smote  him  in 
the  belly  :  and  Rechab  and  Baanah  his  brother  escaped. 

7  Now  when  they  came  into  the  house,  as  he  lay  on  his  bed 
in  his  bedchamber,  they  smote  him,  and  slew  him,  and 
beheaded  him,  and  took  his  head,  and  went  by  the  way 

8  of  the  Arabah  all  night.  And  they  brought  the  head  of 
Ish-bosheth  unto  David  to  Hebron,  and  said  to  the  king. 
Behold  the  head  of  Ish-bosheth  the  son  of  Saul  thine 
enemy,  which  sought  thy  life ;  and  the  Lord  hath  avenged 

9  my  lord  the  king  this  day  of  Saul,  and  of  his  seed.  And 
David  answered  Rechab  and  Baanah  his  brother,  the  sons 
of  Rimmon  the  Beerothite,  and  said  unto  them.  As  the 
Lord  liveth,  who  hath  redeemed  my  soul  out  of  all 


iv.  5-7  give  details  of  the  assassination.  The  Hebrew  text  of 
verse  6  is  very  corrupt,  that  of  the  Greek  Version  being  now 
universally  preferred.  As  given  in  the  marg.  of  R.  V.  it  runs  : 
'And,  behold,  the  woman  that  kept  the  door  of  the  house  was 
winnowing  [rather,  *  was  cleaning  'J  wheat,  and  she  slumbered  and 
slept ;  and  the  brethren,  Rechab  and  Baanah,  went  privily  into  the 
house,  as  he  lay,'  &c.,  as  in  verse  7.  This  picturesque  description 
throw^s  an  interesting  light  on  the  low  estate  to  which  his  Majesty, 
King  Ish-baal,  had  fallen. 

7.  "by  the  way  of  the  Arabah :  in  the  opposite  direction  to  the 
line  of  Abner's  retreat,  see  ii.  29. 

8.  the  XiORD  hath  avengfed  my  lord  the  king^,  &c< :  '  the 
apparent  hypocrisy  which  made  Yahweh  a  partner  in  their  bloody 
crime  called  forth  the  indignation  of  the  older  expositors.  But 
Such  language  is  second  nature  to  an  Oriental '  (H.  P.  Smith). 

9.  The  second  half  of  this  verse  shows  how  even  our  oldest 
extant  Hebrew  literature  is  suffused  with  true  religious  feeling. 


II   SAMUEL  4.  ic— 5.  i.     M  211 

adversity,  when  one  told  me,  saying,  Behold,  Saul  is  dead,  10 
thinking  to  have  brought  good  tidings,  I  took  hold  of  him, 
and  slew  him  in  Ziklag,  which  was  the  reward  I  gave  him 
for  his  tidings.     How  much  more,  when  wicked  men  11 
have  slain  a  righteous  person  in  his  own  house  upon  his 
bed,  shall  I  not  now  require  his  blood  of  your  hand,  and 
take  you  away  from  the  earth  ?   And  David  commanded  1 2 
his  young  men,  and  they  slew  them,  and  cut  off  their 
hands  and  their  feet,  and  hanged  them  up  beside  the 
pool  in  Hebron.     But  they  took  the  head  of  Ish-bosheth, 
and  buried  it  in  the  grave  of  Abner  in  Hebron. 

Then  came   all  the  tribes  of  Israel  to  David  unto  5 
Hebron,  and  spake,  saying,  Behold,  we  are  thy  bone  and 

10  f.  David  serves  the  murderers  of  Ish-baal  as  he  had  served 
the  messenger  from  the  field  of  Gilboa.  The  latter — who  must 
not  be  confused  with  the  Amalekite  of  i.  6  ff.  (see  the  introductory 
note  to  that  chapter) — paid  with  his  life  for  what  after  all  was 
little  more  than  an  error  of  judgement,  *  how  much  more '  (verse 
11)  had  these  confessed  assassins  incurred  the  penalty  of  death. 

(^c)  V.  I — vi.  23.  David,  now  king  over  all  Israel,  captures 
Jerusalem  to  which  he  removes  the  Ark  of  God. 

In  these  chapters  we  have  a  record  from  our  oldest  source  of 
two  historical  events,  the  importance  of  which  for  the  future 
political  and  religious  development  of  Israel  can  scarcely  be 
exaggerated.  Chapter  v  is  evidently  of  the  nature  of  a  compilation 
from  more  detailed  accounts  of  this  critical  period  of  Hebrew 
history.  As  a  consequence,  the  chronological  relation  of  the 
different  entries  is  extremely  uncertain  (see  especially  on  verses 
17  ff.).  The  student  is  referred  to  the  standard  histories  and  to 
Budde's  Kurzer  Handcommentar  318  for  further  examination  of 
the  historical  problems. 

v.  1-3,     David  anointed  king  over  Israel  in  Hebron  (cf.  ii.  4). 

Accepting  the  arrangement  of  the  text  adopted  by  the  compiler, 
we  find  the  northern  tribes,  here  designated  '  the  tribes  of  Israel ' 
as  distinguished  from  the  tribe  of  Judah,  repairing  t.o  Hebron  to 
offer  David,  through  their  representatives  *  the  elders,'  or  heads 
of  the  clans,  the  crown  now  vacant  through  the  murder  of  Ish-baal. 

1.  we  are  thy  bone  and  thy  flesh:  for  this  idea  of  the 
soHdarity  of  Judah  and  the  northern  tribes,  cf.  ii.  26,  'their 
brethren,'  xix.  41,  'our  brethren  the  men  of  Judah.' 

P   2 


212  II   SAMUEL  5.  2-6.     MRM 

2  thy  flesh.  In  times  past,  when  Saul  was  king  over  us,  it 
was  thou  that  leddest  out  and  broughtest  in  Israel :  and 
the  Lord  said  to  thee,  Thou  shalt  feed  my  people  Israel, 

3  and  thou  shalt  be  prince  over  Israel.  So  all  the  elders 
of  Israel  came  to  the  king  to  Hebron ;  and  king  David 
made  a  covenant  with  them  in  Hebron  before  the  Lord  : 
and  they  anointed  David  king  over  Israel. 

4  [R]  David  was  thirty  years  old  when  he  began  to  reign, 

5  and  he  reigned  forty  years.  In  Hebron  he  reigned  over 
Judah  seven  years  and  six  months :  and  in  Jerusalem 
he  reigned  thirty  and  three  years  over  all  Israel  and 

6  Judah.     [M]  And  the  king  and  his  men  went  to  Jerusalem 

2.  The  reference  in  the  first  half  of  the  verse  is  to  David's 
military  leadership  under  Saul,  in  the  second  half  probably  to  the 
same  oracle  as  was  referred  to  in  iii.  9.  The  Chronicler  (i  Chron. 
xi.  3)  naturally  understood  the  words  as  referring  to  the  later 
passage,  i  Sam.  xvi.  i  ff. 

Thou  Shalt  feed  my  people  Israel :  the  earliest  instance  of 
this  metaphor,  the  king  the  shepherd  of  his  people  ;  it  became 
a  favourite  figure  from  Jeremiah  onwards. 

3.  David  made  a  covenant  with  them  (cf.  iii.  21)  :  embodying 
the  mutual  rights  and  duties  of  ruler  and  ruled,  the  '  manner  of  the 
kingdom '  (see  on  i  Sam.  viii.  9). 

4  f.  A  chronological  note  by  the  Deuteronomic  editor  of  the 
same  tenor  as  that  in  i  Kings  ii.  11  (cf.  ii,  11  above).  Its  accuracy 
is  guaranteed  by  general  considerations  (see  Introduction,  sect,  ix), 
and  by  the  precision  of  the  text  '  seven  years  and  six  months.' 

v.  6-10.     The  capture  of  Jerusalem  (cf  i  Chron.  xi.  4-9). 

This  famous  fortress  had  remained  since  the  conquest  in  the 
possession  of  the  Canaanite  tribe  of  the  Jebusites  (Judges  i.  21). 
The  fragmentary  character  of  the  extracts  in  this  chapter  render  it 
impossible  to  say  with  certainty  at  what  precise  point  in  Davids 
reign  this  epoch-making  event  took  place  (see  above).  The 
compiler  at  least  represents  it  as  the  first  notable  event  of  David's 
reign  over  all  Israel.     See  further  on  verse  17  below  and  on  vi.  i. 

6.  Jerusalem :  the  first  historical  mention  of  this  famous  city 
is  found  in  the  Tell-el-Araarna  correspondence,  circa  1400  B.C., 
where  it  appears  as  U-ru-sa-lim  with  a  native  ruler  under  the 
suzerainty  of  Egypt.  For  the  meaning  of  the  name,  its  situation 
and  history,  reference  must  be  made  to  the  standard  dictionaries. 


II   SAMUEL  5.  7,  8.     M  213 

against  the  Jebusites,  the  inhabitants  of  the  land  :  which 
spake  unto  David,  saying,  Except  thou  take  away  the 
blind  and  the  lame,  thou  shalt  not  come  in  hither: 
thinking,  David  cannot  come  in  hither.  Nevertheless  7 
David  took  the  strong  hold  of  Zion  ;  the  same  is  the  city 
of  David.  And  David  said  on  that  day.  Whosoever  8 
smiteth  the  Jebusites,  let  him  get  up  to  the  watercourse, 
and  smite  the  lame  and  the  blind,  that  are  hated  of 
David's  soul.   Wherefore  they  say,  There  are  the  blind  and 


the  Jebusites,  the  inhabitants  of  the  land:  one  of  the 
seven  races  which,  according  to  O.  T.  writers,  occupied  the 
land  of  Canaan  before  the  Hebrew  conquest  (see  Driver's 
Deiiteyononiy^  97  ff.).  In  Judges  xix.  10,  i  Chron.  xi.  4  f.  their 
capital  is  called  Jebus,  probably  a  mistaken  inference  from  the 
name  of  its  inhabitants.  The  Jebusites'  taunt  is  explained  by  the 
narrator  as  referring  to  the  impregnable  position  of  the  fortress. 
This  idea  is  more  clearly  brought  out  by  the  marginal  rendering  : 
'■  thou  shalt  not  come  in  hither,  but  the  blind  and  the  lame  shall 
turn  thee  away.'  The  walls,  they  meant,,  were  so  strong  that  it 
v/as  sufficient  to  man  them  with  the  blind  and  the  lame  to  secure 
the  safety  of  the  city. 

7.  the  strong-  hold  of  Sion ;  Zion  is  now  identified  with  the 
more  easterly  of  the  two  hills  on  which  the  modern  city  is  built. 
The  fortress  must  have  stood  on  its  southern  portion,  doubtless  in 
close  proximity  to  the  only  perennial  spring  in  the  neighbourhood, 
the  Virgin's  Fountain.  With  later  writers,  the  poets  especially, 
Zion  became  a  synonym  for  Jerusalem  as  a  whole.  There  is 
nothing  in  the  text,  which  represents  Z'on  as  the  citadel  of 
Jerusalem,  to  negative  the  supposition  that  part  at  least  of  the 
western  hill— often  falsely  supposed  to  be  Zion — was  already 
built  upon. 

the  same  is  the  city  of  David :  a  marginal  gloss  anticipating 
verse  9. 

8.  The  first  half  of  this  verse  is  so  corrupt  as  to  have  been  long 
the  despair  of  textual  critics.  No  purpose  would  be  served  by 
a  recital  of  the  bewildering  variety  of  conjectures  that  have  been 
put  forward.  The  second  half  has  all  the  appearance  of  a  late  and 
mistaken  gloss  to  be  rendered  as  in  the  margin  :  '  the  blind  and 
the  lame  shall  not  come  into  the  house,'  that  is,  the  temple,  as 
expressly  stated  in  the  LXX  rendering.  There  is  here  probably 
a  reference  to  Lev.  xxi,  18,    According  to  the  Chronicler  ;i  Chron. 


214  II   SAMUEL   5.  9-12.     M 

9  the  lame ;  he  cannot  come  into  the  house.  And  David 
dwelt  in  the  strong  hold,  and  called  it  the  city  of  David. 
And  David  built  round  about  from  Millo  and  inward. 

10  And  David  waxed  greater  and  greater;  for  the  Lord, 
the  God  of  hosts,  was  with  him. 

11  And  Hiram  king  of  Tyre  sent  messengers  to  David, 
and  cedar  trees,  and  carpenters,  and  masons :  and  they 

12  built  David  an  house.  And  David  perceived  that  the 
Lord  had  established  him  king  over  Israel,  and  that  he 
had  exalted  his  kingdom  for  his  people  Israel's  sake. 

xi.  6),  Joab's  prowess  on  this  occasion    procured   for  him   the 
position  of  commander-in-chief  of  David's  forces. 

9.  And  David  dwelt  in  the  strong'  hold:  in  these  few  and 
commonplace  words  we  have  all  that  is  recorded  of  the  momentous 
step  taken  by  David  in  removing  his  capital  from  Hebron  to 
Jerusalem.  That  it  was  a  wise  and  politic  move  on  David's  part 
none  can  doubt.  By  its  almost  impregnable  position,  and  by  its 
geographical  situation  on  the  dividing  line  between  Judah  and 
Israel,  Jerusalem  was  marked  out  as  the  natural  capital  of  the 
united  kingdom.  The  removal  of  the  royal  residence  from  the 
Judahite  city  of  Hebron,  moreover,  was  a  step  likely  to  conciliate 
the  tribes  of  the  north,  while  the  fact  that  Jerusalem  was  a  new 
conquest,  in  which  the  men  of  Judah  had  played  an  honourable 
part,  would  go  far  to  mitigate  the  regrets  of  the  south  at  this 
desertion  of  their  ancient  city  (but  see  on  xv.  7  fF.). 

the  city  of  David:  rather,  as  the  context  requires,  'the 
fortress  of  David  '  or  '  David's  burg ' ;  so  vi.  12,  &c. 

Millo  was  evidently  an  important  part  of  the  fortress,  although 
meaning  and  situation  are  both  unknown.  See  Skinner's  note  on 
I  Kings  ix.  15  (Century  Bible). 

10.  Cf.  note  on  iv.  9  above. 

11  fF.  Kiram  king'  of  Tyre:  Hiram  I,  the  friend  and  con- 
temporary of  Solomon,  whose  reign  is  given  by  ancient  and 
modern  authorities  as  968-935,  e.g.  (see  Menander'slist  in  A'.^T'.' 
129).  If  this  date  is  correct,  we  must  suppose  that  the  name  of 
Hiram  has  been  inadvertently  inserted  here  for  that  of  his  father 
Abibaal.  The  extreme  condensation  of  the  narrative  has  probably 
brought  together  what  should  be  kept  apart.  The  ambassadors 
of  Hiram  were  no  doubt  those  usually  sent  with  friendly  greetings 
at  the  beginning  of  a  new  reign  (see  x.  i  f.).  By  them,  we  may 
suppose,  David  sent  a  request  for  materials  for  his  palace  and  for 
the  necessary  craftsmen. 


II   SAMUEL  5.  !3-ir.     RM  215 

[Rj  And  David  took  him  more  concubines  and  wives  i?, 
out  of  Jerusalem,  after  he  was  come  from  Hebron :  and 
there  v/ere  yet  sons  and  daughters  born  to  David.     And  14 
these  be  the  names  of  those  that  were  born  unto  him  in 
Jerusalem ;   Shammua,  and  Shobab,   and  Nathan,  and 
Solomon,  and  Ibhar,  and  Elishua ;   and  Nepheg,   and  15 
Japhia;  and  Elishama,  and  Eliada,  and  Eliphelet.  16 

[M]  And  when  the  Philistines  heard  that  they  had  ij* 
anointed  David  king  over  Israel,  all  the  Philistines  went  up 
to  seek  David ;  and  David  heard  of  it,  and  went  down 


V.  13-16.     A  list  of  Davids  sous  born  in  Jcnisalciii. 

The  list  is  repeated  with  some  variations  (for  which  sec  the 
tabular  lists  in  Driver,  Notes  201)  in  i  Chron.  iii.  5-8,  xiv.  4-7.  and, 
in  all  probability,  originally  formed,  as  in  Chronicles,  the  con- 
tinuation of  iii.  2-5.  Of  the  names  given,  we  may  note  only 
Solomon,  the  circumstances  of  whose  birth  are  fully  related  below 
(xi.  f.>,  and  Bliada,  whose  true  name  was  Baal-iada  (i  Chron. 
xiv.  7).  The  motive  for  the  change  has  been  explained  in  the  note 
on  ii,  8, 

V.  17-25.  David  and  the  Philistines. 

It  is  altogether  probable,  as  we  have  seen  'p.  I98^,  that  David 
while  at  Hebron  continued  to  acknowledge  the  Philistine  suzer- 
ainty over  Judah,  one  trace  of  which  we  may  perhaps  find  in  the 
presence,  at  the  date  of  the  section  before  us,  of  a  Philistine 
resident  (or  garrison,  or  both)  at  Beth-lehem  (xxiii.  14),  But 
David  as  the  head  of  a  united  Israel  was  many  times  more 
dangerous  than  as  the  king  of  Judah  alone.  His  installation,  there- 
fore, at  Hebron  recorded  in  the  opening  verses  of  this  chapter 
seems  to  have  changed  the  attitude  of  the  Philistines  from  one 
of  watchful  tolerance  to  one  of  active  hostility.  The  reason  for 
believing  that  David  had  not  yet  achieved  the  conquest  of  Jeru- 
salem, and  consequently  that  v.  4-10  and  v.  17 — vi.  i  have  changed 
places,  will  appear  presently. 

17.  David  .  .  ,  went  down  to  the  hold:  David's  place  of 
retreat  cannot,  as  the  present  context  suggests,  be  '  the  strong 
hold  of  Zion.'  One  always  '  went  up,'  one  never  'went  down,'  to 
Jerusalem,  and  besides  David  was  already  settled  Mn  the  strong 
hold '  (verse  9"^,  The  solution  of  the  difficulty  is  fo  be  found  in 
the  episode  preserved  in  the  appendix  to  Samuel,  xxiii.  11  ft'.  The 
scene  of  the  exploit  there  recorded   is  the  same  as  that  of  the 


2i6  II   SAMUEL  5.  18-23.     M 

18  to  the  hold.     Now  the  Philistines  had  come  and  spread 

19  themselves  in  the  valley  of  Rephaim.  And  David  inquired 
of  the  Lord,  saying,  Shall  I  go  up  against  the  Philis- 
tines ?  wilt  thou  deliver  them  into  mine  hand  ?  And  the 
Lord  said  unto  David,  Go  up  :  for  I  will  certainly  deliver 

20  the  Philistines  into  thine  hand.  And  David  came  to 
Baal-perazim,  and  David  smote  them  there ;  and  he  said, 
The  Lord  hath  broken  mine  enemies  before  me,  like  the 
breach  of  waters.     Therefore  he  called  the  name  of  that 

21  place  Baal-perazim.  And  they  left  their  images  there, 
and  David  and  his  men  took  them  away. 

22  And  the  Philistines  came  up  yet  again,  and  spread 

23  themselves  in  the  valley  of  Rephaim.  And  when  David 
inquired  of  the  Lord,  he  said,  Thou  shalt  not  go  up : 
make  a  circuit  behind  them,  and  come  upon  them  over 

section  before  us,  '  the  valley  of  Rephaim,'  David  being  then  in 
*  the  hold  of  Adullam  '  (xxiii.  13 — for  this  rendering  in  place  of  the 
erroneous  '  cave  '  see  on  i  Sam.  xxii.  i).  David,  then,  retired  from 
Hebron,  not  Jerusalem,  to  his  old  fortress  of  Adullam, 

18.  the  valley  of  Rephaim  lay  to  the  south  of  Jerusalem 
towards  Beth-lehem  (Josh.  xv.  8;  cf.  xxiii.  13  ff.  below). 

20.  Baal-perazim :  '  Baal  (or  lord)  of  breaches,'  as  explained 
in  the  second  half  of  the  verse.  This  shows  once  more  that  Baal 
was  at  this  period  an  unobjectionable  title  of  Yahweh,  The 
locality  has  not  been  identified. 

21.  David  carries  off  the  'gods'  of  the  Philistines,  which  the 
latter  had  taken  into  battle  with  them,  as  the  Hebrews  took  the 
Ark  at  Eben-ezer  (i  Sam.  iv.  5  ff.).  The  reading  'gods'  for 
images  is  attested  by  the  LXX  and  hy  1  Chron.  xiv.  12.  The 
form  which  this  verse  has  assumed  in  Chronicles  is  instructive. 
The  Chronicler  has  taken  offence  at  the  idea  of  the  man  after 
God's  heart  carrjnng  off,  as  trophies  of  war,  a  set  of  heathen  gods, 
and  has  made  David  give  commandment  (cf.  Deut.  vii.  5,  25),  'and 
they  were  burned  with  fire' !  This  is  one  of  many  illustrations  of 
the  manner  in  which  the  pious  historians  of  a  later  age  dealt  with 
certain  passages  of  the  older  literature.  An  illustration  of  an 
Ass3^rian  warrior  with  a  captured  idol  in  his  hand  will  be  found 
EBi.  ii.  col.  191 8. 

22.  The  scene  of  this  second  encounter  is  again  the  valle}'  of 
Rephaim. 


II   SAMUEL  5.  24— G.  i.     M  217 

against  the  mulberry  trees.  And  it  shall  be,  when  thon  24 
hearest  the  sound  of  marching  in  the  tops  of  the  mulberry 
trees,  that  then  thou  shalt  bestir  thyself:  for  then  is  the 
Lord  gone  out  before  thee  to  smite  the  host  of  the 
Philistines.  And  David  did  so,  as  the  Lord  com-  25 
manded  him ;  and  smote  the  Philistines  from  Geba  until 
thou  come  to  Gezer. 

And  David  again  gathered  together  all  the  chosen  men  6 

23  f.  mulberry  trees :  R.  V.  marg.  *  balsam  trees ' ;  better  than 
either  would  be  '  baka  trees,'  keeping  the  original  form  of  the  word, 
since  the  authorities  are  not  agreed  as  to  the  tree  in  question. 
The  belief  in  trees  as  the  abodes  of  divine  beings,  and  as  media 
of  divination  and  revelation,  was  deeply  rooted  in  early  Semitic 
thought  (W.  R.  Smith,  Rel.  Sem.^  195  ff-)- 

25.  from  Geba  until  tboti  come  to  Gezer  :  the  LXX  and  the 
Chronicler  (note  R.  V.  marg.)  read  '  Gibeon  '  for  Geba  here.  For 
the  former  see  on  ii.  12,  for  the  latter,  r  Sam.  xiii.  2.  But  this  part 
of  Palestine  was  full  of  Gebas,  Gibeahs  and  Gibeons — all  practically 
synonymous — and  some  place  nearer  Jerusalem  and  the  valley  of 
Rephaim  than  either  Geba  or  Gibeon  may  be  intended.  The  site 
of  the  ancient  Canaanite  city  of  Gezer  is  represented  by  Tell  Jezer 
— otherwise  Tell  ej-Jesan — near  the  modern  village  of  Abu 
Shusheh,  south-east  of  Ramleh.  It  first  appears  in  the  Amarna 
correspondence,  circa  1400  b.  c.  More  thon  four  centuries  later  it 
was  presented  by  the  then  king  of  Egypt  as  a  dowry  to  his 
daughter,  the  ^vife  of  Solomon  (i  Kings  ix.  16).  It  is  now  (1904) 
being  excavated  by  the  Palestine  Exploration  Society.  The 
history  of  Jezer  has  been  fully  treated  by  Clermont  Ganneau  in 
his  Archaeological  Researches  in  Palestine,  ii.  224-275  ;  a  7-e'sitme' by 
Macalister  will  be  found  in  the  Quarterly  Statement  of  the  above 
Society  for  1902,  pp.  227  ff. 

vi.  1-19.  The  transference  0/  the  Ark  from  Kiriath-jcarim  to  the 
city  of  David. 

If  the  selection  of  Jerusalem  as  the  capital  of  the  united 
kingdom  of  Israel  was,  as  is  universally  admitted,  a  conspicuous 
proof  of  David's  statesmanship,  it  is  evident  that  the  decision  to 
convey  thither,  and  to  house  within  its  citadel,  the  sacred  Ark  of 
God  is  equally  a  proof  of  his  political  sagacity  and  religious  zeal. 
The  possession  of  the  ancient  palladium  of  the  tribes  of  Israel 
gave  the  new  metropolis  the  necessary  religious  sanction,  and 
gradually  secured  for  it  a  pre-eminence  among  the  sanctuaries  of 
the  land  which  in  due  time  paved  the  way  for  the  Deuteronomic 


2i8  II   SAMUEL  6.  2.     M 

2  of  Israel,  thirty  thousand.     And  David  arose,  and  went 

centralization  of  the  cultus,  with  all  the  far-reaching  results  that 
flowed  therefrom.  It  is  all  the  more  to  be  regretted  that  our 
extant  records  throw  so  little  light  upon  the  inexplicable  neglect  of 
the  Ark  during  the  long  lifetime  of  Samuel  and  the  reign  of  Saul, 
That  this  precious  shrine,  whose  presence  was  as  the  presence  of 
Yahweh,  and  whose  loss  was  the  passing  of  the  glory  from  Israel 
(i  Sam.  iv.  21),  should  have  played  no  part  in  the  revival  of 
national  and  religious  life  which  culminated  in  the  institution  of 
the  monarchy,  is  surely  to  be  explained  only  by  the  hypothesis 
that  the  Ark  was  inaccessible  to  the  leaders  we  have  named,  and 
to  all  who  rallied  round  them.  Of  this  inaccessibility  no  other 
explanation  seems  possible  than  the  further  supposition,  that 
during  all  these  years  the  Ark  in  some  way  or  other  continued  to 
be  jealously  retained  within  the  jurisdiction,  though  not  within  the 
actual  territory,  of  the  Philistines.  Its  ultimate  recovery,  we 
cannot  doubt,  stands  in  close  connexion  with  David's  repeated 
victories  over  the  latter.  Only  when  their  poiver  had  been  com- 
pletely broken  was  it  possible  for  Israel  to  regain  possession  of  the  Ark. 
The  subject  is  too  complex  to  admit  of  adequate  treatment  in 
a  note,  and  its  fuller  discussion  must  be  relegated  to  the  Appendix 
to  this  commentary. 

The  parallel  account  of  the  removal  of  the  Ark  in  i  Chron.  xiii. 
5  ff.  should  be  compared  with  that  given  here.  *  The  variations 
between  the  two  narratives  are  here  remarkably  striking  and  in- 
structive '  (Driver). 

1.  In  his  recent  commentary,  Budde  still  adheres  to  the  opinion 
expressed  in  his  earlier  woi-ks  on  Samuel  that  this  verse  was 
originally  followed  by  v.  6ff.,  the  account  of  the  conquest  of 
Jerusalem,  and  that  v.  12  gives  the  justification  of  and  introduc- 
tion to  vi.  2  ff.  This  mainly  on  the  ground  that  an  army  of  thirty 
thousand  men  *  does  not  suggest  a  festival  procession,  but  a  serious 
warlike  undertaking.'  As  will  be  shown  more  fully  in  the 
Appendix,  we  consider  Budde's  premise  correct,  but  his  con- 
clusion false.  Both  the  form  (note  the  words  *  agaitt  gathered 
together')  and  the  contents  of  this  verse  clearly  suggest  another 
military  expedition  against  the  Philistines,  while  the  fresh  start 
made  in  verse  2  equally  suggests  that  something  has  fallen  out 
between  these  verses.  This  we  take  to  have  been  an  account  of 
the  success  of  the  expedition,  which  put  an  end  to  the  Philistine 
suzerainty  over  the  cities  of  the  Gibeonite  league,  including 
Kiriath-jearim,  and  thereby  opened  the  way  for  the  recovery  of 
the  Ark.  This  account  the  compiler  will  have  suppressed  under 
the  misapprehension  that  the  Ark,  because  of  its  location  on 
nominally  Hebrew  territory,  had  all  along  been  under  Hebrew 
control. 


II    SAMUEL  G.  3-7.     M  219 

with  all  the  people  that  were  with  him,  from  Baale  Judah, 
to  bring  up  from  thence  the  ark  of  God,  which  is  called 
by  the  Name,  even  the  name  of  the  Lord  of  hosts  that 
sitteth  upon  the  cherubim.     And  they  set  the  ark  of  God  3 
upon  a  new  cart,  and  brought  it  out  of  the  house  of 
Abinadab  that  was  in  the  hill :  and  Uzzah  and  Ahio,  the 
sons  of  Abinadab,  drave  the  new  cart.     And  they  brought  4 
it  out  of  the  house  of  Abinadab,  which  was  in  the  hill, 
with  the  ark  of  God  :    and  Ahio  went  before  the  ark. 
And  David  and  all  the  house  of  Israel  played  before  the  5 
Lord  with  all  manner  of  instrume>its  made  of  fir  wood, 
and  w^ith  harps,  and  with  psalteries,  and  with  timbrels, 
and  with  castanets,  and  with  cymbals.     And  when  they  6 
came  to  the  threshing-floor  of  Nacon,  Uzzah  put  forth 
Ills  hand  to  the  ark  of  God,  and  took  hold  of  it ;  for  the 
oxen  stumbled.     And  the  anger  of  the  Lord  was  kindled  7 
against  Uzzah;  and  God  smote  him  there  for  his  error; 

2.  from  Baale  Judah  :  read,  'to  Baalah  of  Judah  to  bring  up 
from  thence,'  «&c. ;  cf.  i  Chron.  xiii.  6,  '  to  Baalah,  that  is  Kiriath- 
jearim,'  the  name  which  the  place  bears  in  i  Sam.  vi.  21  f. 

which  is  called  by  the  la^ame,  &c.  :  render  more  literally, 
'over  which  is  called  the  name  of  Yahweh  Sebaoth,'  reading  'the 
name '  once  only  as  in  LXX.  The  phrase  denotes  ownership 
(see  on  xii.  28).  For  the  expanded  title,  which  has  been  added 
later,  see  the  Appendix. 

3  f.  The  awkwardness  of  the  style  shows  that  the  text  of  these 
two  verses  is  in  some  confusion,  cf.  i  Chron.  xiii.  7. 

5.  with  all  manner  ...  of  fir  wood  (the  words  omitted  are,  as 
the  italics  show,  no  part  of  the  text)  :  an  interesting  example  of 
textual  corruption  involving  only  slight  deviations  from  the 
original  text,  which  ran  :  *  with  all  (their)  might  and  with  songs,' 
as  I  Chron.  xiii.  8.  For  the  instruments  employed  see  the  Bible 
dictionaries. 

6.  the  oxen  stnmbled :  the  meaning  of  the  original,  as  the 
margin  shows,  is  uncertain. 

7.  for  his  error  :  R.  V.  marg.  '  for  his  rashness,'  but  the  text 
is  palpably  corrupt,  and  probably  a  mutilated  fragment  of  what 
the  Chronicler  read  in  his  copy :  *  because  he  put  forth  his  hand 
to  the  Ark,  and  he  died  before  God  ■  U  Chron.  xiii.  to\     The  last 


220  II    SAMUEL  G.  8-T2.     M 

8  and  there  he  died  by  the  ark  of  God.  And  David  was 
displeased,  because  the  Lord  had  broken  forth  upon 
Uzzah  :  and  he  called  that  place  Perez-uzzah,  unto  this 

9  day.  And  David  was  afraid  of  the  Lord  that  day  ;  and 
he  said,  How  shall  the  ark  of  the  Lord  come  unto  me  ? 

TO  So  David  would  not  remove  the  ark  of  the  Lord  unto 
him  into  the  city  of  David  ;  but  David  carried  it  aside 

11  into  the  house  of  Obed-edom  the  Gittite.  And  the  ark 
of  the  Lord  remained  in  the  house  of  Obed-edom  the 
Gittite  three  months  :  and  the  Lord  blessed  Obed-edom, 

12  and  all  his  house.  And  it  was  told  king  David,  saying, 
The  Lord  hath  blessed  the  house  of  Obed-edom,  and 
all  that  pertaineth  unto  him,  because  of  the  ark  of  God. 

clause  in  the  form  just  given  is  also  more  likely  to  represent  the 
original,  reading,  however,  '  the  Lord  '  (Yahweh)  for '  God.'  The 
Ark  is  here,  as  in  i  Sam.  iv-vi,  identified  with  Yahv/eh.  To  this 
a  late  copyist  took  exception,  and  substituted  the  present  reading. 

This  incident  with  its,  to  us,  excessive  punishment  of  an  action, 
whose  motive  was  the  perfectly  legitimate  and  laudable  one  of 
preventing  an  accident  to  the  Ark,  must  be  judged  from  the 
religious  standpoint  of  this  early  narrator  (M).  For  him  and  his 
contemporaries  it  was  not  a  question  of  moral  transgression  and 
its  punishment  (see  on  i  Sam.  xiv.  43,  for  the  as  yet  imperfect 
conception  of  sin\  but  rather  a  question  of  the  sacrosanct  character 
of  the  Ark,  whose  *  holiness '  was  contagious  and  therefore 
a  source  of  danger  and  even  of  death  to  ordinary  '  unsanctified ' 
persons  (see  on  i  Sam.  vii.  i).  Many  modern  scholars,  however, 
regard  this  incident  of  Uzzah's  death  as  a  legendary  accretion  to 
the  historical  narrative,  which  has  grown  out  of  the  older  place- 
name  Perez-vizzah,  '  the  breach  of  Uzzah.' 

10.  Obed-edom  tlie  Gittite  :  i.  e.  native  of  Gath,  who  must, 
however,  have  been  a  gey  (see  on  i.  13),  admitted  to  certain  civil 
and  religious  privileges,  including  admission  to  the  worship  of 
Yahweh.  Later  ecclesiastical  tradition  enrolled  him  among  the 
Levitesfrom  motives  that  are  readily  apparent  (iChron.  xv.  18,  24^. 
His  house  must  have  been  in  or  near  Jerusalem. 

11  f.  By  the  blessing  bestowed  upon  Obed-edom,  the  nature  of 
which  is  not  specified,  David  recognizes  that  the  anger  of  Yahweh 
has  passed  away,  and  resolves  to  make  another  and  more  cautious 
attempt  to  transfer  the  Ark  to  his  new  citadel. 


II   SAMUEL   G.  13-18.     M  221 

And  David  went  and  brought  up  the  ark  of  God  from 
the  house  of  Obed-edom  into  the  city  of  David  with  joy. 
And  it  was  so,  that  when  they  that  bare  the  ark  of  the  13 
Lord  had  gone  six  paces,  he  sacrificed  an  ox  and  a 
fathng.     And  David  danced  before  the  Lord  with  all  14 
his  might ;   and  David  was  girded  with  a  linen  ephod. 
So  David  and  all  the  house  of  Israel  brought  up  the  ark  15 
of  the  Lord  with  shouting,  and  with  the  sound  of  the 
trumpet.     And  it  was  so,  as  the  ark  of  the  Lord  came  i6 
into  the  city  of  David,  that  Michal  the  daughter  of  Saul 
looked  out  at  the  window,  and  saw  king  David  leaping 
and  dancing  before  the  Lord  ;  and  she  despised  him  in 
her  heart.     And  they  brought  in  the  ark  of  the  Lord,  17 
and  set  it  in  its  place,  in  the  midst  of  the  tent  that  David 
had  pitched  for  it :  and  David  offered  burnt  offerings  and 
peace  offerings  before  the  Lord.     And  when  David  had  18 
made  an  end  of  offering  the  burnt  offering  and  the  peace 
offerings,  he  blessed  the  people  in  the  name  of  the  Lord 

13.  The  Ark  on  this  occasion  is  reverently  carried,  not  driven 
(cf.  XV.  24,  ag).  After  a  few  moments  of  anxious  suspense,  it  is 
seen  that  Yahweh  is  graciously  pleased  to  go  with  David,  who 
thereupon  offers  a  sacrifice  of  thanksgiving.  The  instructive 
parallel  in  i  Chron.  xv  should  be  compared,  in  which  the 
ecclesiastical  arrangements  of  the  third  century  before  Christ 
are  transferred  to  the  tenth. 

14.  David  danced  before  the  XiOBD :  //.'.  'whirled,'  as  do  the 
modern  dervishes  in  their  devotional  dances.  Note  here,  and  in 
verse  7  above  (restored  text',  the  practical  identification  of 
Yahweii  with  the  Ark,  as  in  the  narrative  1  Sam.  iv-vi. 

girded  with  a  linen  ephod:  see  on  i  Sam.  ii.  18.  Ihe 
whirling  movement  of  the  dance  caused  the  indecent  exposure  of 
which  we  hear  in  verse  20,  and  against  which  the  later  legislation 
took  precautions  (Exod.  xxviii.  42,  Lev.  vi.  10). 

16.  Michal  is  deeply  offended  at  what  she  considers  the 
unkingly  behaviour  of  her  husband — note  the  emphasis  on  '  king 
David.' 

18.  he  blessed  the  people  in  the  name  of  the  LORD  of  hosts: 
rather,  •  with  the  name '  ;  the  preposition  denotes  the  means  or 


222  II   SAMUEL  6.  19-21.     M 

19  of  hosts.  And  he  dealt  among  all  the  people,  even 
among  the  whole  multitude  of  Israel,  both  to  men  and 
women,  to  every  one  a  cake  of  bread,  and  a  portion  of 
fleshy  and  a  cake  of  raisins.     So  all  the  people  departed 

20  every  one  to  his  house.  Then  David  returned  to  bless 
his  household.  And  Michal  the  daughter  of  Saul  came 
out  to  meet  David,  and  said,  How  glorious  was  the  king 
of  Israel  to-day,  who  uncovered  himself  to-day  in  the  eyes 
of  the  handmaids  of  his  servants,  as  one  of  the  vain 

21  fellows  shamelessly  uncovereth  himself!  And  David  said 
unto  Michal,  //  was  before  the  Lord,  which  chose  me 
above  thy  father,  and  above  all  his  house,  to  appoint  me 

instrument,  the  solemn  invocation  of  the  Name  being  the  channel 
of  the  Divine  blessing.  David  '  put  the  Name  of  Yahweh  upon  the 
children  of  Israel'  (Num.  vi.  27,  where  verses  24-26  give  the 
later  form  of  the  priestly  benediction  ;  see  Kautzsch  in  Hastings' 
DB.,  extra  vol.  640 f.,  for  the  full  significance  of  the  'name  of 
Yahweh'  in  the  earlier  literature,  and  cf.  on  vii.  13  below).  To 
pronounce  the  benediction  is  reckoned  as  the  third  of  the  peculiar 
prerogatives  of  the  priesthood  in  Deut.  x.  8  (cf.  Num.  vi.  23, 
Lev.  ix.  22).  Here,  however,  David,  in  virtue  of  his  prerogative 
as  Uheanointed  of  Yahweh,*  combines  priestly  with  royal  functions, 
not  merely  wearing  the  priestly  dress,  but  himself  cfiering  sacrifice 
and  blessing  the  people  at  the  close  of  the  service.  So  too 
Solomon,  i  Kings  viii.  14,  55,  which  clearly  shows  that  these 
functions  were  not  yet  limited  to  a  special  class.  See  further  on 
viii.  18. 

19.  a  portion  of  flesh :  to  the  meaning  of  the  single  word  in 
the  original  we  have  no  clue.  The  margin  gives  'a  portion  of 
wine,'  an  alternative  quite  in  keeping  with  the  festive  occasion, 
and  suggesting  that  we  may  have  to  do  with  a  corruption  of 
shekdr,  perhaps  in  its  original  sense  of  '  date-wine,'  The  corre- 
sponding shikaru  is  repeatedly  associated  with  gifts  of  food,  oil, 
&c.,  in  the  Palestinian  correspondence  of  the  Amarna  period. 
See  the  writer's  article  *  Wine  and  Strong  Drink/  EBi.  iv. 
col.  5310. 

2 1  f.  The  opening  words  of  David's  reply  should  read  (cf.  LXX)  : 
'Before  Yahweh  was  I  dancing,  who  chose  me,'  &c.  The  last 
clause  belongs  to  verse  22.  The  answer,  though  little  calculated 
to  appease  the  queen's  anger,  shows  both  David's  native  humility 
and  his  recognition  of  the  true  source  of  his  royal  dignity. 


II   SAMUEL  6.  22—7.  ?,.     MD  223 

prince  over  the  people  of  the  Lord,  over  Israel :  there- 
fore will  I   play  before  the  Lord.     And  I  will  be  yet  22 
more  vile  than  thus,  and  will  be  base  in  mine  own  sight : 
but  of  the  handmaids  which  thou  hast  spoken  of,  of  them 
shall  I  be  had  in  honour.     And  Michal  the  daughter  of  23 
Saul  had  no  child  unto  the  day  of  her  death. 

[D]  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  the  king  dwelt  in  his  7 
house,  and  the  Lord  had  given  him  rest  from  all  his 
enemies  round  about,  that  the  king  said  unto  Nathan  2 
the  prophet,  See  now,  I  dwell  in  an  house  of  cedar,  but 
the  ark  of  God  dwelleth  within  curtains.     And  Nathan  3 

23.  Michal's  childlessness  has  usually  been  regarded  as  a 
Divine  judgement  upon  her  conduct.  The  narrator,  however, 
seems  to  regard  it  as  the  result  of  a  permanent  estrangement,  Michal 
being  henceforth  treated  like  the  members  of  the  royal  harem  men- 
tioned in  XX.  3. 

{d)  vii.  The  Divine  guarantee  of  the  permanence  of  David^s 
dynasty. 

The  true  significance  of  this  chapter  has  been  obscured  by  the 
insertion,  either  by  the  compiler  or  by  a  later  reader,  of  verse  13 
(see  note).  The  point  of  the  prophetic  message  is,  in  brief,  that 
if  is  not  David  ivho  shall  build  a  '  honse,''  that  is,  a  temple  for 
Yahwch,  but  Yahiveh  ivho  shall  build  a  '  house,'  that  is,  a  dynasty, 
for  David.  In  the  text,  apart  from  the  intrusive  verse  13,  there 
is  no  mention  of  the  building  of  Solomon's  temple,  but  rather  the 
contrary.  The  chapter  forms  a  literary  unit  by  itself.  Its 
general  style  connects  it  with  the  literary  products  of  the 
Deuteronomic  school,  and  its  contents  suggest  a  date  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  reign  of  Josiah,  or  the  period  immediately  succeeding, 
circa  610-600  B.C.,  while  the  dynasty  of  David  was  still  upon  the 
throne  (so  Wellhausen  and  others).  The  fundamental  importance 
of  this  chapter  for  the  study  of  the  growth  of  the  Messianic  hope 
in  Israel  is  rightly  emphasized  by  all  writers  oji  this  great 
subject.  The  parallel  passage,  i  Chron.  xvii,  should  be  com- 
pared throughout. 

1.  the  IiOBD  had  ^ven  him  rest,  &c.  :  a  favourite  Deutero- 
nomistic  expression,  Deut.  xii.  10,  xxv.  19 ;  i  Kings  v.  4,  &c. 

2.  Nathan  the  prophet:  the  standing  designation  of  the  seer 
who  figures  so  prominently  in  the  story  of  Uriah  and  in  the 
matter  of  the  succession  (i  Kings  i.  i  ff.). 

dwelleth  within  curtains :  i.  e.  in  a  tent,  the  curtains  being 


224  n   SAMUEL  7.  4-8.    D 

said  to  the  king,  Go,  do  all  that  is  in  thine  heart ;  for 

4  the  Lord  is  with  thee.  And  it  came  to  pass  the  same 
night,  that  the  word  of  the  Lord  came  unto  Nathan, 

5  saying,  Go  and  tell  my  servant  David,  Thus  saith  the 
Lord,  Shalt  thou  build  me  an  house  for  me  to  dwell  in  ? 

6  for  I  have  not  dwelt  in  an  house  since  the  day  that  I 
brought  up  the  children  of  Israel  out  of  Egypt,  even  to 
this  day,  but  have  walked  in  a  tent  and  in  a  tabernacle. 

7  In  all  places  wherein  I  have  walked  with  all  the  children 
of  Israel,  spake  I  a  word  with  any  of  the  tribes  of  Israel, 
whom  I  commanded  to  feed  my  people  Israel,  saying, 

8  Why  have  ye  not  built  me  an  house  of  cedar  ?  Now 
therefore  thus  shalt  thou  say  unto  my  servant  David, 
Thus  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts,  I  took  thee  from  the 
sheepcote,  from  following  the  sheep,  that  thou  shouidest 

the  breadths  of  goats'  hair  cloth  of  which  the  tent  was  made.    The 
house  of  cedar  refers  back  to  v.  11. 

3f.  Nathan  at  first  approves  of  David's  proposal,  but  in  the 
following  night  is  divinely  informed  that  it  is  contrary  to  the 
good  pleasure  of  Yahweh,  who  prefers,  as  heretofore,  the  shelter 
of  a  simple  tent.  With  this  reason  for  David's  abstaining  from 
the  erection  of  a  temple  in  Jerusalem,  cf  i  Kings  v.  3  with 
Skinner's  note  (Century  Bible). 

6.  The  author  of  this  chapter  can  scarcely  have  known  the 
narrative  of  i  Sam.  i-iii  with  its  temple  at  Shiloh. 

have  walked  in  a  tent  and  in  a  tabernacle :  the  idea  is 
more  fully  expressed  in  i  Chron.  xvii.  5  :  '  I  have  gone  from  tent 
to  tent,  and  from  dwelling  to  dwelling.'  Yahweh,  as  represented 
by  the  Ark,  was  not  tied  to  any  one  spot,  or  to  any  one  form  of 
shelter.  In  xi.  11  we  hear  of  the  Ark  being  housed  in  a  '  booth.' 
How  far  removed  all  this  is  from  the  gorgeous  tabernacle  of  the 
Priests'  Code  is  self-evident. 

*7.  with  any  of  the  tribes :  a  corruption  of  '  with  any  of  the 
judges,'  see  margin  of  R.  V. 

8 if.  Nathan's  special  message  contains  three  elements  :  (i)  a 
reminder  of  God's  gracious  dealings  with  David  in  the  past  (8,  g"'); 
(2)  an  assurance  of  the  continuance  of  the  same  to  David  and  to 
Israel  in  the  future  (g'^-ii*);  (3)  the  crowning  promise  of  the 
permanence  of  David's  seed  upon  the  throne  of  Israel  (ii^  12, 
14-16). 


II    SAMUEL  7.  9-13.     D  225 

be  prince  over  my  people,  over  Israel :  and  I  have  been  9 
with  thee  whithersoever  thou  wentest,  and  have  cut  off 
all  thine  enemies  from  before  thee ;  and  I  will  make  thee 
a  great  name,  like  unto  the  name  of  the  great  ones  that 
are  in  the  earth.     And  I   will  appoint  a  place  for  my  10 
people  Israel,  and  will  plant  them,  that  they  may  dwell 
in  their  own  place,  and  be  moved  no  more  ;  neither  shall 
the  children  of  wickedness  afflict  them  any  more,  as  at 
the  first,  and  as  from  the  day  that  I  commanded  judges  to  n 
be  over  my  people  Israel ;  and  I  will  cause  thee  to  rest 
from  all  thine  enemies.     Moreover  the  Lord  telleth  thee 
that  the  Lord  will  make  thee  an  house.     When  thy  days  12 
be  fulfilled,  and  thou  shalt  sleep  with  thy  fathers,  I  will 
set  up  thy  seed  after  thee,  which  shall  proceed  out  of  thy 
bowels,  and  I  will  establish  his  kingdom.     He  shall  build  13 


10  f.  As  the  punctuation  of  R.  V.  shows,  11*  must  be  taken 
with  10.  Render  'as  at  the  first,  even  from  the  day  that,'  &c. 
The  troublous  times  of  the  Judges  shall  recur  no  more,  and 
Israel  shall  abide  in  peaceful  and  permanent  possession  of  the 
land  of  promise.     Evidently  this  was  written  before  the  Exile. 

and  I  will  canse  tliee  to  rest :  this  goes  with  the  preceding 
clause,  and  should  be  read  :  '  I  will  cause  them  [my  people  Israel] 
to  rest  from  all  their  enemies.' 

the  IiOSD  will  make  thee  an  house :  read,  with  LXX  here 
and  I  Chron.  xvii.  10,  '  will  build  thee  an  house,'  as  in  verse  27. 
This,  as  was  indicated  above,  gives  the  key-note  of  the  chapter.  ^ , 

For  the  figure  see  on   i  Sam.  ii.  35,  where  we  have   the  com-     /)*) 
plement  to  the  passage  before  us.     There  we  had  the  promise          a, 
of  the  permanence  of  the  Zadokite   priesthood,   here   the  per-      i*'' 
manence  of  the   Davidic  dynasty  is  assured,  as  is  stated  more 
explicitly  in  verse  16. 

12  repeats  and  expounds  the  promise  of  ii*^.  Note  that  the 
pronoun  in  '  his  kingdom '  refers  back  to  David's  seed  or  posterity, 
and  so  in  verses  14^7  That  the  Davidic  dynasty  as  a  whole,  not 
any  individual  member  of  it,  is  the  burden  of  the  prophecy  must 
be  kept  in  mind  throughout.  Cf.  the  summary  of  this  passage 
given  by  the  Deuteronomic  compiler  of  Kings  (i  Kings  ii.  4\ 

13.  Wellhausen's  contention  that  this  verse  has  been  inter- 
polated  is  approved  bj'  almost  all  recent  writers.      It   requires 


226  II    SAMUEL  7.  14,  15.     D 

an  house  for  my  name,  and  I  will  establish  the  throne  of 

14  his  kingdom  for  ever.  I  will  be  his  father,  and  he  shall 
be  my  son  :  if  he  commit  iniquity,  I  will  chasten  him 
with  the  rod  of  men,  and  with  the  stripes  of  the  children 

15  of  men  ;  but  my  mercy  shall  not  depart  from  him,  as  I 

lis  to  limit  the  '  seed'  of  verse  12  to  Solomon,  and  by  introducing 
a  thought  alien  to  the  rest  of  the  chapter  robs  Nathan's  message 

-  of  its  point.     David,  moreover,  in  his  subsequent  thanksgiving, 

-  makes  no  reference  to  this  postponement  of  his  cherished  plan, 
-.s  The  interpolation,  however,  must  have  taken  place  at  an  early 
-  date,  as  it  was  already  known   to  the   Deuteronomic  editor  or 

-  editors  of  Kings  (see  Skinner  (Century  Bible)  on  i  Kings  v.  5, 
vi.   18  ff.,  viii.  14  ff.,  especially  p.   145),  by  whom  the  whole  pro- 

■  phecy  is  definitely  referred  to  Solomon  by  the  substitution  of  'son' 
for  '  seed,'  the  individual  for  the  dynasty. 

an  house  for  my  name :  this  association  of  Yahweh's  'name' 
with  the  temple  is  characteristic  of,  and  almost  peculiar  to, 
"■  Deuteronomy  (xii.  5,  11,  21,  and  elsewhere),  and  the  Deuteronomic 
school  of  editors  (i  Kings  v.  17,  19,  &c.),  by  whom  Yahweh  is 
said  to  '  set  his  name '  or  '  cause  his  name  to  dwell '  in  the  temple. 
For  this  school  God's  true  dwelling-place  is  heaven,  but  in  the 
sanctuary  is  His  Name,  the  special  manifestation  of  the  Deity 
vouchsafed  to  the  worshippers  by  whom  His  name  was  invoked. 
For  this  important  theological  conception,  see  Davidson,  Theology  of 
the  O.  T.,  36 ff.,  'The  Idea  of  the  Divine  Name'  ;  Schultz,  O.  T. 
Theology,  ii.  123  f.  ;  Cheyne's  article  '  Name,'  EBi.  iii.  3268 ; 
Skinner's  Kings  (Century  Bible),  p.  147  ;  and  Kautzsch,  as  cited 
on  vi.  18  above. 

14.  I  will  "be  his  father,  and  he  shall  be  my  son  (of.  Ps.  Ixxxix. 
26  f.)  :  the  rules  of  Hebrew  grammar  require  us  to  apply  this 
verse  and  the  following  to  the  successive  members  of  David's 
dynasty,  although  the  Chronicler  has  limited  their  reference  to 
Solomon  (i  Chron.  xxii.  10,  xxviii.  6).  Even  Israel  as  a  whole 
had  already  been  called  Yahweh's  son  (Exod.  iv.  22,  Hos.  xi.  i), 
and  the  relation  between  Yahweh  and  the  Messianic  King  is 
expressed  in  similar  terms  in  Ps.  ii.  7. 

with  the  rod  of  men :  '  i.  e.  with  punishments  such  as  all 
men  incur  when  they  sin,  and  from  which  the  seed  of  David  will 
not  be  exempted.  Cf.  the  poetical  paraphrase,  Ps.  Ixxxix.  30-51 ' 
(Driver). 

15.  For  cogent  reasons  the  text  of  Chronicles  is  generally 
preferred  :  '  and  I  will  not  take  my  mercy  away  from  him  [still 
the  dynasty],  as  I  took  it  from  him  that  was  before  thee' 
(i  Chron.  xvii.  13). 


II    SAMUEL  7.  16-21.     D  227 

took  it  from  Saul,  whom  I  put  away  before  thee.     And  16 
thine  house  and  thy  kingdom  shall  be  made  sure  for  ever 
before  thee :    thy  throne  shall  be  established  for  ever. 
According  to  all  these  words,  and  according  to  all  this  17 
vision,  so  did  Nathan  speak  unto  David. 

Then  David  the  king  went  in,  and  sat  before  the  Lord  ;  18 
and  he  said.  Who  am  I,  O  Lord  God,  and  what  is  my 
house,  that  thou  hast  brought  me  thus  far  ?    And  this  19 
was  yet  a  small  thing  in  thine  eyes,  O  Lord  God  ;  but 
thou  hast  spoken  also  of  thy  servant's  house  for  a  great 
while  to  come ;  and  this  too  after  the  manner  of  men,  O 
Lord  God  !   And  what  can  David  say  more  unto  thee?  ao 
for  thou  knowest  thy  servant,  O  Lord  God.     For  thy  21 
word's  sake,  and  according  to  thine  own  heart,  hast  thou 
wrought  all  this  greatness,  to  make  thy  servant  know  it. 

16.  A  concluding  summary  of  the  prophet's  message.  For  the 
idea  of  permanence  conveyed  by  the  term  '  sure '  see  on  i  Sam.  ii. 
35.  The  thought  of  David's  everlasting  kingdom  (cf.  i  Kings  ii. 
45,  Ps.  Ixxxix,  4,  29,  36)  contributed  an  essential  element  to  the 
Messianic  eschatology. 

vii.  18-29.  David's  thanksgiving  prayer. 

18.  David  .  .  .  went  in  and  sat  before  the  ZiOBD :  namely, 
in  the  tent  in  which  the  Ark  was  housed  in  the  city,  or  rather 
citadel,  of  David  (vi.  12,  17).  The  attitude  of  devotion  which  he 
assumed  is  not  mentioned  elsewhere  in  the  O.  T.  It  probably 
consisted  of  'raising  his  head  and  body  and  sinking  backward 
upon  his  heels.'  which  is  one  of  the  prescribed  attitudes  of 
Mohammedan  worship  (Hughes,  Dictionary  of  Islam,  467,  with 
illustrations), 

19.  The  last  clause  is  now  unintelligible,  and  was  already 
corrupt  by  the  third  century  b.  c.  (Chron.  and  LXX).  It  probably 
continued  the  thought  of  the  preceding  clause  :  *  and  thou  wilt  let 
me  see  the  generations  of  men  for  evermore'  (so  Budde  basing 
on  Ewald  and  Wellhausen).  David  hopes  to  live  in  his  descen- 
dants.    For  this  thought  see  A.  B.  Davidson's  Theology,  p.  407. 

21.  The  text  is  again  in  disorder,  as  a  comparison  with  LXX 
and  Chronicles  shows.  H.  P.  Smith  and  Budde  read:  *To  glorify 
thy  servant  hast  thou  promised,  and  according  to  thine  own  heart 
hast  thou  wrought  in  making  thy  servant  know  all  this  greatness.' 

Q    2 


228  II   SAMUEL  7.  22-28.     D 

22  Wherefore  thou  art  great,  O  Lord  God:  for  there  is 
none  like  thee,  neither  is  there  any  God  beside  thee, 

23  according  to  all  that  we  have  heard  with  our  ears.  And 
what  one  nation  in  the  earth  is  like  thy  people,  even  like 
Israel,  whom  God  went  to  redeem  unto  himself  for  a 
people,  and  to  make  him  a  name,  and  to  do  great  things 
for  you,  and  terrible  things  for  thy  land,  before  thy 
people,  which  thou  redeemedst  to  thee  out  of  Egypt, 

24/;w«  the  nations  and  their  gods?  And  thou  didst 
establish  to  thyself  thy  people  Israel  to  be  a  people  unto 
thee  for  ever;    and  thou,  Lord,  becamest  their  God. 

25  And  now,  O  Lord  God,  the  word  that  thou  hast  spoken 
concerning  thy  servant,  and  concerning  his  house,  con- 

26  firm  thou  it  for  ever,  and  do  as  thou  hast  spoken.  And 
let  thy  name  be  magnified  for  ever,  saying,  The  Lord  of 
hosts  is  God  over  Israel :  and  the  house  of  thy  servant 

27  David  shall  be  established  before  thee.  For  thou,  O 
Lord  of  hosts,  the  God  of  Israel,  hast  revealed  to  thy 
servant,  saying,  I  will  build  thee  an  house  :  therefore  hath 
thy  servant  found  in  his  heart  to  pray  this  prayer  unto 

28  thee.  And  now,  O  Lord  God,  thou  art  God,  and  thy 
words  are  truth,  and  thou  hast  promised  this  good  thing 


23.  This  verse  affords  an  interesting  example  of  an  early  text 
intentionally  altered  for  dogmatic  reasons  (of.  on  v.  21).  Originali^'^ 
it  ran  somewhat  as  follows :  '  And  what  other  nation  in  the  earth 
is  like  thy  people  Israel,  whom  [referring  to  'other  nation']  a  god 
has  ever  gone  to  redeem  for  himself  as  a  people  to  make  himself 
a  name,  and  to  do  for  them  great  and  terrible  things,  in  driving 
out  before  his  people  a  nation  and  its  gods?'  The  theological 
particularism,  which  involved,  though  only  as  an  hypothesis,  the 
existence  and  working  in  history  of  other  gods,  was  offensive  to 
the  monotheistic  thought  of  a  later  age  and  led  to  the  present 
confused  text.  (So  Geiger,  followed  by  most  recent  commentators.) 
For  the  ideas  expressed  see  Deut.  iv.  7,  34. 

24.  The  familiar  covenant  relation  between  Yahweh  and 
Israel— Yahweh  the  God  of  Israel,  Israel  the  people  of  Yahweh. 


II    SAMUEL  7.29—8.2.     DR  229 

unto  thy  servant  :    now  therefore  let  it  please  thee  to  39 
bless  the  house  of  thy  servant,  that  it  may  continue  for 
ever  before  thee  :  for  thou,  O  IvOrd  God,  hast  spoken  it : 
and  with  thy  blessing  let  the  house  of  thy  servant  be 
blessed  for  ever. 

[R]  And  after  this  it  came  to  pass,  that  David  smote  8 
the  Philistines,  and  subdued  them  :  and  David  took  the 
bridle  of  the  mother  city  out  of  the  hand  of  the  Philistines. 
And  he  smote  Moab,  and  measured  them  with  the  line,  a 
making  them  to  lie  down  on  the  ground ;  and  he 
measured  two  lines  to  put  to  death,  and  one  full  line  to 
keep   alive.     And    the   Moabites   became    servants    to 


{e)  viii.  A  summary  0/ David's  wars  luiiJi  a  list  of  his  principal 
officers  of  state. 

The  summary  character  of  the  contents  shows  that  this  chapter 
was  compiled  with  a  view  to  form  the  conclusion  to  David's  reign, 
and,  in  all  probability,  to  what  may  be  called  *  the  first  edition '  of 
the  Book  of  Samuel  p.  26).  It  has  its  counterpart  in  the  briefer 
summary  which  forms  the  provisional  close  of  the  reign  of  Saul, 
I  Sam.  xiv.  47-51.  Both  summaries  may  be  assigned  to  the  Deu- 
teronomic  compiler  or  redactor  (R).  The  materials  are  of  course 
much  older;  in  the  case  of  some  of  the  campaigns,  indeed,  we  have 
the  older  record  itself  preserved  in  later  chaptei-s.  Wellhausen 
and  others  are  of  opinion  that  the  lists  now  found  in  iii.  2-5  and 
V.  13-16  originally  formed  part  of  this  chapter.  Here,  again,  the 
parallel  in  i  Chron.  (xviii.  i  fF.)  should  be  compared. 

1.  the  bridle  of  the  mother  city:  by  this  the  Revisers  no 
doubt  mean  the  power  (or  possession)  of  the  Philistine  metropolis. 
But  this  is  exceedingli^  doubtful.  The  A.  V.  and  R.  V.  marg.  take 
the  words  as  a  proper  name,  Metheg-ammah.  In  realit}^  the  text 
is  corrupt.  The  Chronicler  read  or  guessed  :  '  Gath  and  her 
daughters,'  i.  e.  dependent  villages  (i  Chron.  xviii.  i). 

2.  The  reasons  for  the  changed  relations  with  Moab  (see  i  Sam. 
xxii.  3  f. )  are  unknown,  as  this  campaign  is  not  elsewhere  referred  to. 
Two-thirds  of  the  'male  ?)  inhabitants  David  put  to  the  ban.  This 
mode  of  conducting  warfare,  though  quite  in  accord  with  the 
spirit  of  David's  age,  offended  the  moral  sense  of  a  later  day,  as 
we  see  from  the  Chronicler's  omission  of  the  middle  portion  of  the 
verse  (i  Chron.  xviii.  2). 


230  II   SAMUEL  8.  3-8.     R 

3  David,  and  brought  presents.  David  smote  also 
Hadadezer  the  son  of  Rehob,  king  of  Zobah,  as  he  went 

4  to  recover  his  dominion  at  the  River.  And  David  took 
from  him  a  thousand  and  seven  hundred  horsemen,  and 
twenty  thousand  footmen  :  and  David  houghed  all  the 
chariot  horses,  but  reserved  of  them   for  an  hundred 

5  chariots.  And  when  the  Syrians  of  Damascus  came  to 
succour  Hadadezer  king  of  Zobah,  David  smote  of  the 

6  Syrians  two  and  twenty  thousand  men.  Then  David 
put  garrisons  in  Syria  of  Damascus  :  and  the  Syrians  be- 
came servants  to  David  and  brought  presents.     And  the 

7  Lord  gave  victory  to  David  whithersoever  he  went.  And 
David  took  the  shields  of  gold  that  were  on  the  servants 

8  of  Hadadezer,  and  brought  them  to  Jerusalem.  And  from 
Betah  and   from   Berothai,   cities   of  Hadadezer,    king 


3  flf.  The  compiler  here  gives  a  longer  summary  of  a  campaign 
against  the  king  of  Zobah  and  his  allies,  of  which  the  original 
account,  apparently,  may  still  be  read  in  x.  6  flf.  (which  see). 

king"  of  Zobah :  a  small  Aramaean  kingdom  somewhere  in 
or  near  the  modern  district  of  the  Jaiildn  (see  on  x.  6).  The 
text  of  the  last  clause  is  doubtful  (see  margin)  ;  probably  we  should 
read  as  in  Chronicles  :  '  as  he  went  to  stablish  his  dominion  by 
the  river  Euphrates.' 

4.  The  uncertainty  of  the  numbers  in  the  received  text  of  O.  T. 
is  well  illustrated  hy  a  comparison  of  this  verse  with  x.  18,  with 
I  Chron.  xviii.  4,  and  with  the  Greek  readings  in  all  three 
passages. 

chariot  horses  .  .  .  chariots  :  the  same  word  is  used  in  the 
original  in  both  places  ;  we  should  therefore  render  :  '  and  he 
reserved  of  them  a  hundred  chariot  horses,' 

5.  the  Syrians  of  Damascus  here  take  the  place  of  '  the 
Syrians  beyond  the  Euphrates '  of  x.  16.  In  any  case  it  is 
exceedingly  doubtful  if  David's  kingdom  included  the  ancient 
and  powerful  city  of  Damascus. 

6.  garrisons:  or  'officers,'  political  residents,  see  on  i  Sam. 
X.  5,  and  cf.  i  Kings  vii.  7. 

8.  Betah  and  .  .  .  Berothai  :  the  accuracy  of  these  names,  and 
therefore  their  position,  is  doubtful,  see  i  Chron.  xviii.  8,  and  the 
margin  here. 


II    SAMUEL  8.  9-14.     R  231 

David  took  exceeding  much  brass.     And  when  Toi  king  9 
of  Hamath  heard  that  David  had  smitten  all  the  host  of 
Hadadezer,  then  Toi  sent  Joram  his  son  unto  king  David^  10 
to  salute  him,  and  to  bless  him,  because  he  had  fought 
against  Hadadezer  and  smitten  him  :  for  Hadadezer  had 
wars  with  Toi.     KwA  Jonim  brought  with  him  vessels  of 
silver,  and  vessels  of  gold,  and  vessels  of  brass  :  these  also  u 
did  king  David  dedicate  unto  the  Lord,  with  the  silver 
and  gold  that  he  dedicated  of  all  the  nations  which  he 
subdued  ;    of  Syria,  and  of  Moab,  and  of  the  children  of  12 
Amnion,  and  of  the  Philistines,  and  of  Amalek,  and  of 
the  spoil  of  Hadadezer,  son  of  Rehob,  king  of  Zobah. 
And    David  gat  him  a  name  when   he  returned  from  13 
smiting  of  the  Syrians  in  the  Valley  of  Salt,  even  eighteen 
thousand  men.     And  he  put  garrisons  in  Edom  ;  through-  14 
out  all  Edom  put  he  garrisons,   and  all  the    Edomites 

9  f.  David  receives  an  embassy  from  Toi,  or  Tou  (see  Chron.), 
king  of  Hamath  on  the  Oiontes.  Budde  considers  that  these  two 
verses  may  originally  have  stood  after  x.  19. 

Joram:  in  Chron.  more  correctly  '  Hadoram,'  which  is 
probably  a  corruption  of  Hadad-ram.  The  last  contains,  like 
fladad-ezer  and  Ben-hadad,  the  name  of  the  Syrian  thunder  god, 
who  was  identified  with  the  Assyrian  Rammanu  (Riminon). 

13.  tlie  Valley  of  Salt:  probably  the  modern  wady  of  the 
same  name,  the  Wadi  el-Milh,  a  continuation  of  the  Wadi  cs-Seba 
beside  Beer  sheba.  This  is  the  last  place  v.'here  we  should  expect 
to  find  the  Syrians.  Read  therefore,  with  other  slight  emenda- 
tions :  '  and  when  he  had  returned  from  smiting  the  Syrians,  he 
smote  Edom  (Chron.,  LXX)  in  the  Valley  of  Salt.'  Aram  (Syria) 
and  Edom  closely  resemble  each  other  in  the  Hebrew  character', 
and  are  frequently  confused.  See  also  R.  V.  marg.  and  verse  14. 
The  Valley  of  Salt  was  also  the  scene  of  a  later  victory  over  the 
Edomites  (2  Kings  xiv.  7).  The  particular  victory  of  our  text  is 
ascribed  to  Joab  in  the  heading  of  Ps.  Ix,  and  to  Abishai  in 
1  Chron.  xviii.  12,  but  the  latter  is  manifestly  a  mistaken  reading 
of  the  word  rendered  'had  retui-ned'  in  the  emended  text  as 
given  above. 


232  II   SAMUEL  8.   15-18.     R 

became  servants  to  David.     And  the  Lord  gave  victory 
to  David  whithersoever  he  went. 

15  And  David  reigned  over  all  Israel ;  and  David  executed 

16  judgement  and  justice  unto  all  his  people.    And  Joab  the 
son  of  Zeruiah  was  over  the  host ;  and  Jehoshaphat  the 

17  son  of  Ahilud  was  recorder:  and  Zadok  the  son  of  Ahitub, 
and  Ahimelech  the  son  of  Abiathar,  were  priests ;  and 

18  Seraiah  was  scribe;  and  Benaiah  the  son  of  Jehoiada 


viii.  15-18.     David' s  principal  officer's  of  siaie. 

The  greater  part  of  this  paragraph,  verses  16-18,  is  repeated 
with  some  deviations  in  xx.  23-26.  In  the  latter  passage  the 
order  is  more  logical,  first  the  chiefs  of  the  arm}',  then  the  heads 
of  the  civil  administration,  and  finally  the  chief  priests.  To  the 
first  category  belong  Joab,  the  commander-in-chief  of  David's 
military  forces,  consisting  for  the  most  part  of  militia,  and 
Benaiah,  v^ho 

was  over  the  Cherethites  and  the  Felethites  (sec  the 
marginal  note)  :  these  were  a  company  of  foreign  mercenaries 
forming  the  ro^^al  bodyguard.  The  former,  in  Hebrew  Krethi^ 
had  their  home  in  the  Negeb  (i  Sam.  xxx.  14^,  and  were  akin  to 
the  Philistines.  Their  name  has  usually  been  understood  as 
implying  that  their  original  home  was  the  island  of  Crete.  The 
latter,  in  Hebrew  Plethi,  are  assumed  to  have  been  Philistines, 
the  name  Pelishti  having  become  Pletht  through  assimilation  to 
Krethi,  from  which  Plethi  is  never  found  dissociated  (xv.  18,  xx.  7, 
23,  &c.\ 

The  heads  of  the  civil  administration  were  Jehoshaphat,  the 
recorder  (Heb.  niazkir),  and  Seraiah,  the  scrihe.  The  mazkir 
is  generally  supposed  to  have  been  the  official  annalist  or 
chronicler  (so  R.  V.  marg.),  but  etymologically  the  term  signifies 
'one  who  reminds  '  another  (cf.  Isa.  xliii.  26,  Ixii.  6,  '  the  Lord's 
remembrancers,'  R.  V.).  In  this  sense  the  English  official  designa- 
tion, '  the  king's  remembrancer,'  is  the  exact  equivalent.  The  duty 
of  the  remembrancer  was  probably  to  keep  the  king  informed  of 
the  business  of  the  state,  and  to  advise  him  thereon,  like  the 
grand  vizir  of  an  oriental  court.  To  the  scribe  or  secretary 
(R.  V.  marg.)  was  doubtless  committed  the  drafting  and  custody 
of  official  documents,  perhaps  also  the  task  of  recording  the  out- 
standing events  of  the  reign.  Curiously  the  name  of  David's 
scribe,  here  Seraiah,  appears  at  every  mention  in  a  different 
disguise.  In  i  Kings  iv.  3  his  name  is  given  as  Shisha.  Cf.  below 
XX.  25,  and  the  parallels  in  Chronicles  and  LXX. 


II    SAMUEL  9.  I.     RC  233 

7vas  over  the  Cherethites  and  the  Pelethites ;  and  David's 
sons  were  priests. 

[C]  And  David  said,  Is  there  yet  any  that  is  left  of  9 

In  the  third  category  we  find  David's  priests,  chief  of  whom 
were  Zadok  and  Abiathar  (see  xx.  25).  To  these  was  committed 
in  particular  the  custody  of  the  Ark  of  God  (see  on  xv.  24  f.).  By 
a  dislocation  of  the  text,  two  errors  have  crept  in,  so  that  Zadok 
is  now  falsely  represented  as  a  descendant  of  Eli,  and  Abiathar  is 
displaced  by  his  father,  who  fell  a  victim  to  his  loyalty  to  David 
(i  Sam.  XX.  16  ff.).  Read  accordingly :  '  and  Abiathar  the  son 
of  Ahimelech,  the  son  of  Ahitub,  and  Zadok  were  priests.'  The 
latter,  here  mentioned  for  the  first  time,  became  sole  priest  on 
Abiathar's  deposition  by  Solomon  on  his  accession  (i  Kings  ii. 
27),  and  thus  the  progenitor  of  the  Jerusalem  priesthood  of  later 
days.     The  most  notable  item  remains. 

and  David's  sons  were  priests  :  this  statement  must  be 
taken  literally,  not  as  the  Chronicler,  writing  at  a  time  when  the 
priesthood  had  become  the  exclusive  right  of  the  descendants  of 
Aaron,  interpreted  the  words,  'chief  about  the  king'  (i  Chron. 
xviii.  17),  nor  yet  as  *  chief  ministers,'  as  the  Revisers  strangely 
suggest  in  their  margin.     See  the  notes  on  vi.  17  f,  and  on  xx.  26. 

Third  Division.     2  Samuel  IX — XX. 
At  the  Court  of  David. 

These  twelve  chapters  of  the  Book  of  Samuel  form  the  longest 
continuous  section  of  historical  narrative  from  a  single  source  to 
be  found  in  the  Old  Testament.  With  their  continuation  in 
I  Kings  i-ii,  they  have  been  extracted  from  an  early  document 
which  is  universally  regarded,  on  many  grounds,  as  one  of  the 
finest  extant  examples  of  Hebrew  prose  literature  (p.  24).  As 
distinguished  from  the  immediately  preceding  chapters,  which 
deal  with  matters  of  public  interest,  the  capture  of  Jerusalem,  the 
wars  with  Israel's  neighbours  and  the  like,  chapters  ix-xx  are 
concerned  primarily  with  the  court  and  family  life  of  David  in 
Jerusalem.  Hence  we  propose  to  indicate  this  source  by  the 
symbol  C,  and  the  nature  of  its  contents  by  the  heading — '  At  the 
Court  of  David.'  The  identity  of  this  document  with  the  other 
early  source,  M,  which  has  supplied  the  great  mass  of  the 
narrative  since  i  Sam.  ix,  must  be  left  an  open  question. 

One  receives  the  impression  from  '  the  abundance  and  particu- 
larity of  detail,'  and  from  the  freshness  and  vividness  of  the 
narrative,  that  the  author  of  C  stands  nearer  to  the  incidents 
recorded  than  is  the  case  with  M.     But  this  impression  may  be 


234  II   SAMUEL  9.  2-6.     C 

the  house  of  Saul,  that  I  may  shew  him  kindness  for 

2  Jonathan's  sake  ?  And  there  was  of  the  house  of  Saul 
a  servant  whose  name  was  Ziba,  and  they  called  him 
unto  David ;  and  the  king  said  unto  him,  Art  thou  Ziba  ? 

3  And  he  said,  Thy  servant  is  he.  And  the  king  said,  Is 
there  not  yet  any  of  the  house  of  Saul,  that  I  may  shew 
the  kindness  of  God  unto  him  ?  And  Ziba  said  unto  the 
king,  Jonathan  hath  yet  a  son,  which  is  lame  on  his  feet. 

4  And  the  king  said  unto  him.  Where  is  he  ?  And  Ziba 
said  unto  the  king,  Behold,  he  is  in  the  house  of  Machir 

5  the  son  of  Ammiel,  in  Lo-debar.  Then  king  David  sent, 
and  fetched  him  out  of  the  house  of  Machir  the  son  of 

6  Ammiel,  from  Lo-debar.  And  Mephibosheth,  the  son 
of  Jonathan,  the  son  of  Saul,   came  unto  David,  and 

delusive  (see  further,  Introduction,  p.  21,  note  where  also  mention 
is  made  of  two  interesting  suggestions  as  to  the  ultimate  source 
of  C).  The  contents  of  the  division  may  be  arranged  in  five  sub- 
divisions as  given  in  section  ii  of  the  Introduction. 

A.  2  Sam.  ix.  Davicf  s  Kindness  to  Mcri-baal. 
The  abrupt  manner  in  which  the  chapter  opens  shows  it  to  be 
the  continuation  of  something  that  went  before.  Klostermann  and 
more  recent  writers  have  accordingly  suggested  that  our  chapter 
was  originally  preceded  by  ch.  xxi,  with  its  account  of  the  tragedy 
which  befell  the  seven  descendants  of  Saul.  There  are  difficulties 
in  the  way  of  accepting  this  suggestion,  but  it  must  be  admitted 
that  the  peculiar  form  of  David's  inquiry  (verses  i,  3")  requires 
some  preceding  explanation  of  the  disappearance  from  public 
view  of  'the  house  of  Saul.'  The  insinuations  conveyed  in  a 
later  part  of  this  document  (see  xvi.  7  f .  xix.  28)  also  point  in 
the  same  direction. 

3.  the  kindness  of  God :  cf.  the  terms  of  David's  oath  to 
Jonathan,  i  Sam.  xx.  14  f.  The  cause  of  Meri-baal's  lameness 
was  explained  above,  iv.  4,  where  see  for  the  name  Mephibosheth 
—  Meri-baal  or  Merib-baal. 

4.  Machir  the  son  of  Ammiel :  a  prominent  member  of  the 
Manassite  clan  of  the  same  name  (Num.  xxvi.  29 ff.)  settled  east 
of  the  Jordan.  His  friendh'  relations  with  David  appear  later, 
see  xvii.  27,  a  passage  which  shows  that  Lo-dehar  was  not  far 
from  Mahanaim,  the  former  residence  of  Meri-baal's  uncle,  Ish-baal. 


II    SAMUEL  9.  7-11.     C  235 

fell  on  his  face,  and  did  obeisance.     And  David  said, 
Mephibosheth.     And  he  answered,  Behold  thy  servant ! 
And  David  said  unto  him,  Fear  not :  for  I  will  surely  7 
shew  thee  kindness  for  Jonathan  thy  father's  sake,  and 
will  restore  thee  all  the  land  of  Saul  thy  father ;  and  thou 
shalt  eat  bread  at  my  table  continually.     And  he  did  8 
obeisance,   and   said,   What   is   thy   servant,    that   thou 
shouldest  look  upon  such  a  dead  dog  as  I  am  ?   Then  9 
the  king  called  to  Ziba,  Saul's  servant,  and  said  unto 
him,  All  that  pertained  to  Saul  and  to  all  his  house  have 
I  given  unto  thy  master's  son.     And  thou  shalt  till  the  10 
land  for  him,  thou,  and  thy  sons,  and  thy  servants ;  and 
thou  shalt  bring  in  thefritits,  that  thy  master's  son  may 
have  bread  to  eat :   but  Mephibosheth  thy  master's  son 
shall  eat  bread  alway  at  my  table.    Now  Ziba  had  fifteen 
sons  and  twenty  servants.     Then  said  Ziba  unto  the  king,  1 1 
According  to  all  that  my  lord  the  king  commandeth  his 
servant,  so  shall  thy  servant  do.     As  for  Mephibosheth, 
said  the  kmg,  he  shall  eat  at  my  table,  as  one  of  the  king's 


7.  Pear  not :  Meri-baal's  fear  was  by  no  means  groundless  in 
view  of  the  '  thorough  '  policy  then,  and  still  in  the  East,  adopted 
by  the  founder  of  a  new  d3'nasty  towards  possible  rivals  from  the 
old.  The  tragedy  of  Gibeah  (ch.  xxi)  was  also  fresh  in  his  mind. 
In  addition  to  the  restitution  of  the  family  property,  Meri-baal 
receives  a  place  at  the  royal  table.  In  this  decision  motives  of 
policy  perhaps  had  a  place,  as  well  as  loyalty  to  the  memory  of 
Jonathan. 

10.  Although  *  eating  continually  at  the  king's  table  '  (verse  13), 
Meri-baal  would  naturally  have  a  house  and  establishment  of  his 
own  to  maintain  in  the  capital.  The  means  for  their  maintenance 
was  supplied  by  the  restored  estates  of  Saul,  of  which  Ziba 
was  appointed  resident  administrator. 

11.  By  the  insertion  of  the  words  in  italics,  the  second  half  of 
this  verse  is  put,  against  the  grammar,  into  David's  mouth, 
thereby  repeating  lo^  The  Greek  form  of  the  text  is  preferable  : 
'  So  Meri-baal  ate  at  David's  table  as  one  of  the  king's  sons.' 
Cf.  R.  V.  marg. 


236  II    SAMUEL  9.  12—10.  3.     C 

12  sons.  And  Mephibosheth  had  a  young  son,  whose  name 
was  Mica.    And  all  that  dwelt  in  the  house  of  Ziba  were 

13  servants  unto  Mephibosheth.  So  Mephibosheth  dwelt 
in  Jerusalem  :  for  he  did  eat  continually  at  the  king's 
table ;  and  he  was  lame  on  both  his  feet. 

10      And  it  came  to  pass  after  this,  that  the  king  of  the 
children  of  Amnion  died,  and  Hanun  his  son  reigned  in 

2  his  stead.  And  David  said,  I  will  shew  kindness  unto 
Hanun  the  son  of  Nahash,  as  his  father  shewed  kindness 
unto  me.  So  David  sent  by  the  hand  of  his  servants  to 
comfort  him  concerning  his  father.     And  David's  serv- 

3  ants  came  into  the  land  of  the  children  of  Ammon.    But 

12.  Since  the  reception  of  Meri-baal  must  be  placed  com- 
paratively early  in  David's  reign  at  Jerusalem,  the  mention  of 
Mica  must  be  given  by  anticipation,  if  Meri-baal  w^as  only  five 
years  old  at  his  father's  death  (iv.  4).  Through  Mica  the  house 
of  Saul  M^as  continued  for  several  centuries  according  to  i  Chron. 
viii.  35  flf. 

B.     2  Sam.  x-xii.    David's  War  with  the  Ammonites,  titchid- 
ing  the  Affair  of  Bath-sheba. 

The  narrator's  main  interest  centres  in  the  episode  of  David's 
criminal  relations  with  Bath-sheba,  which  issued  ultimately  in  the 
birth  of  Solomon,  with  whose  accession  to  the  throne  this  docu- 
ment C  concludes  (see  above).  This  episode  is  given  its  proper 
historical  setting  by  the  account  of  the  campaigns  against  the 
Ammonites  and  their  Syrian  allies.  The  Chronicler,  it  may  be 
noted,  omits  from  his  life  of  David  this  dark  stain  on  his  hero's 
character,  retaining  only  2  Sam.  x,  xi.  i  and  xii.  26,  30  f.  See 
I  Chron.  xix.  i — xx.  3.  The  narrative  falls  into  the  following 
sections,  the  contents  of  which  are  indicated  below  :  {a)  x.  i — xi. 
I,  (b)  xi.  2-27,  (c)  xii.  1-25,  (d)  xii.  26-31. 

(a)  X.  I — xi,  I.  David  makes  ivar  on  Amman  to  avenge  an  insult  to 
his  atnbassadors. 

1  f.  the  kin§f  of  the  children  of  Ammou:  this  was  the  Nahash 
(verse  2)  who  gave  Saul  the  opportunity  of  winning  his  spurs 
by  the  relief  of  Jabesh-gilead  (i  Sam.  xi.  i  ff.).  The  occasion  on 
which  Nahash  *  shewed  kindness '  to  David  is  not  recorded. 
His  sympathies  were  doubtless  with  the  latter  in  the  '  long  war 
between  the  house  of  Saul  and  the  house  of  David  '  (iii.  i). 


II    SAMUEL  10.  4-6.     C  237 

the  princes  of  the  children  of  Amnion  said  unto  Hanun 
their  lord,  Thinkest  thou  that  David  doth  honour  thy 
father,  that  he  hath  sent  comforters  unto  thee  ?  hath  not 
David  sent  his  servants  unto  thee  to  search  the  cit)',  and 
to  spy  it  out,  and  to  overthrow  it  ?  So  Hanun  took  David's  4 
servants,  and  shaved  off  the  one  half  of  their  beards,  and 
cut    off  their   garments   in    the   middle,  even   to    their 
buttocks,  and  sent  them  away.     When  they  told  it  unto  5 
David,  he  sent  to  meet  them  ;  for  the  men  were  greatly 
ashamed.     And  the  king  said,   Tarry  at  Jericho  until 
your  beards  be  grown,  and  then  return.     And  when  the  6 
children  of  Amnion  saw  that  they  were  become  odious 
to  David,  the  children  of  Animon  sent  and  hired  the 
Syrians  of  Beth-rehob,  and  the  Syrians  of  Zobah,  twenty 

3.  to  search  the  city  :  this,  we  may  assume,  was  Rabbah  of 
Ammon,  the  capital  of  the  kingdom,  see  on  xi.  1. 

4f.  Note  the  threefold  indignity'  involved  (i)  in  laying  hands 
on  the  inviolate  persons  of  ambassadors  :  (2)  in  shaving  any  part 
of  the  beard,  the  oriental  symbol  of  manhood  ;  and  (3)  in  making 
the  victims  the  objects  of  further  ridicule  by  their  having  only  one 
half  of  the  beard  removed.  In  addition  to  all  this,  these  dignified 
and  sacrosanct  ambassadors  had  to  submit  to  an  indecent  exposure. 
No  wonder  that  ^  the  men  were  greatl}'  ashamed.' 

6-14  relate  the  first  campaign  against  the  Ammonites,  who,  in 
anticipation  of  David's  action,  engage  a  number  of  the  neighbouring 
petty  states  of  Syria  to  come  to  their  assistance — for  a  considera- 
tion of  a  thousand  talents  of  silver,  according  to  i  Chron.  xix.  6. 

6.  the  Syrians  of  Beth-rehob  :  a  city  at  the  foot  of  Hermon, 
near  Dan  (Num.  xiii.  21,  Judges  xviii.  28).  The  other  principali- 
ties here  named,  Zobah,  Maacah,  Tob,  to  which  Geshur  (xv.  8) 
may  be  added  as  a  fifth,  seem  all  to  have  lain  between  Mount 
Hermon  and  the  Jabbok,  the  northern  boundary  of  Gilcad. 
This  region  is  now  known  as  the  Jauldn.  See  the  Bible  diction- 
aries for  more  precise  details.  Winckler  would  identify  Maacah 
with  Geshur,  thus  reducing  the  principalities  to  four(/^y^7'.^  291). 
Absalom's  mother,  it  will  be  remembered,  the  daughter  of  the  king 
of  Geshur,  was  named  Maacah  (iii.  3%  The  smallness  of  the 
Maacah  contingent  compared  with  those  of  its  neighbours  has 
roused  suspicion,  but  is  likeh'  to  be  nearer  the  actual  numbers 
sent  by  these  petty  states  than  the  traditional  figures. 


238  II   SAMUEL    10.  7-12.     C 

thousand  footmen,  and  the  king  of  Maacah  with  tL  thou- 
sand men,  and  the  men  of  Tob  twelve  thousand  men. 

7  And  when  David  heard  of  it,  he  sent  Joab,  and  all  the 

8  host  of  the  mighty  men.  And  the  children  of  Amnion 
came  out,  and  put  the  battle  in  array,  at  the  entering  in 
of  the  gate :  and  the  Syrians  of  Zobah,  and  of  Rehob, 
and  the  men  of  Tob  and  Maacah,  were  by  themselves 

9  in  the  field.  Now  when  Joab  saw  that  the  battle  was 
set  against  him  before  and  behind,  he  chose  of  all  the 
choice  men  of  Israel,  and  put  them  in  array  against  the 

10  Syrians:  and  the  rest  of  the  people  he  committed  into 
the  hand  of  Abishai  his  brother,  and  he  put  them  in 

11  array  against  the  children  of  Amnion.  And  he  said,  If 
the  Syrians  be  too  strong  for  me,  then  thou  shalt  help 
me :  but  if  the  children  of  Ammon  be  too  strong  for 

12  thee,  then  I  will  come  and  help  thee.  Be  of  good 
courage,  and  let  us  play  the  men  for  our  people,  and  for 

7.  and  all  the  host  of  the  misrhty  men :    Hi.   '  and  all  the 

host,  (even)  the  mighty  men'  ;  but  elsewhere  'the  mighty  men' 
{gibborim)  figure  as  a  corps  of  veterans,  probably  the  survivors 
and  successors  of  the  six  hundred  that  accompanied  David  in  his 
outlaw  period.  We  should  therefore  read  here  :  '  all  the  host  and 
the  mighty  men,'  i.  e.  the  militia  specially  levied  for  the  occasion 
and  this  nucleus  of  a  standing  army.  Cf.  xx.  7  where  the  corps 
of  the  gibboritn  is  distinguished  both  from  the  royal  bodyguard, 
the  '  Krethi  and  Plethi '  (see  on  viii.  18),  and  from  the  main  body 
of  the  militia  under  Amasa. 

8-12  give  a  lucid  account  of  Joab's  tactics.  The  Ammonite 
troops  are  drawn  up  a  short  distance  from  the  principal  gate  of 
Rabbah,  their  capital,  on  which  they  can  fall  back  in  case  of 
defeat.  The  Syrian  contingents  take  up  their  position  so  as  to 
place  the  Hebrew  army  between  two  fires,  so  to  say.  The 
Syrians  are  regarded  by  Joab  as  the  more  formidable  opponents, 
and  accordingly  he  decides  to  engage  them  in  person  with  a  body 
of  picked  men,  leaving  his  brother  Abishai  with  the  rest  of  the 
militia  to  deal  with  the  Ammonites.  Should  either  division  of 
the  Hebrew  army  show  signs  of  distress,  the  other  is  to  advance 
to  its  assistance. 

12.  and  for  the  cities  of  our  God  :  a  unique  and  difficult  ex- 


II    SAMUEL  10.  13-17.     CR  239 

the  cities  of  our  God :   and  the  Lord  do  that  which 
seemeth  him  good.     So  Joab  and  the  people  that  were  13 
with  him  drew  nigh  unto  the  battle  against  the  Syrians : 
and  they  fled  before  him.     And  when  the  children  of  14 
Ammon  saw  that  the  Syrians  were  fled,  they  likewise 
fled  before  Abishai,  and  entered  into  the  city.     Then 
Joab  returned  from  the  children  of  Ammon,  and  came 
to  Jerusalem.     [R]  And  when  the  Syrians  saw  that  they  15 
w^ere  put  to  the  worse  before  Israel,  they  gathered  them- 
selves together.     And  Hadarezer  sent,  and  brought  out  16 
the  Syrians  that  were  beyond  the  River :  and  they  came 
to  Helam,  with   Shobach  the   captain   of  the   host  of 
Hadarezer  at  their  head.     And  it  was  told  David;  and  17 
he  gathered  all  Israel  together,  and  passed  over  Jordan, 

pression  ;  read,  with  Klostermann  and  Budde,  '  let  us  play  the 
men  for  our  people  and  for  the  Ark  of  God.'  Since  the  Ark 
accompanied  the  army  in  the  second  Ammonite  campaign  in  the 
following  year  (xi.  11),  there  is  every  reason  to  assume  its 
presence  on  this  occasion.  Joab's  dev'out  expression  of  resignation 
is  identical  with  that  used  by  Eli  (i  Sam.  iii.  i8). 

14.  On  the  flight  of  the  Syrians,  the  Ammonites  retire  behind 
the  shelter  of  their  city  walls.  As  it  was  now  probably  too  late 
in  the  year  for  a  formal  siege,  Joab  returns  to  Jerusalem. 

X.  15-19.     David  reduces  several  Syrian  principalities. 

We  have  here  a  doublet  of  viii.  3-8,  the  source  of  which  is  not 
clear.  If  it  originally  belonged  to  C,  at  least  its  position  here  is 
due  to  the  compiler,  as  it  cannot  well  be  fitted  into  the  latter's 
narrative,  for  in  xi.  i  we  find  Joab  resuming  warlike  operations 
against  Ammon  as  soon  as  the  season  allowed.  Here,  moreover, 
David  appears  in  command  to  the  exclusion  of  Joab,  while  the 
position  of  Hadadezer  is  at  variance  with  that  implied  in  verse  6 
(^see  on  19  below),  all  pointing  to  a  source  distinct  from  C. 

15.  The  logic  of  this  verse  leaves  something  to  be  desired. 
The  first  half,  to  '  Israel,'  may  be  part  of  C's  narrative,  the 
continuation  of  which  is  now  found  at  the  end  of  verse  19.  The 
connexion  of  thought  is  then  perfect. 

16.  Ka,darezer:  in  the  best  Hebrew  MSS.  Hadadezer,  as 
viii.  3.  The  '  River'  here — as  always  when  so  printed  in  R.  V. — 
is  the  Euphrates,  and  implies  that  Hadadezer's  authority  extended 
into  Mesopotamia.     The  position  of  Kelaxu  is  unknown. 


240  11    SAMUEL  10.  iS— 11.  2.     RC 

and  came  to  Helam.     And  the  Syrians  set  themselves  in 

18  array  against  David,  and  fought  with  him.  And  the 
Syrians  fled  before  Israel ;  and  David  slew  of  the  Syrians 
the  men  of  seven  hundred  chariots^  and  forty  thousand 
horsemen,  and  smote  Shobach  the  captain  of  their  host, 

19  that  he  died  there.  And  when  all  the  kings  that  were 
servants  to  Hadarezer  saw  that  they  were  put  to  the 
worse  before  Israel,  they  made  peace  with  Israel,  and 
served  them.  So  the  Syrians  feared  to  help  the  children 
of  Ammon  any  more. 

11  [C]  And  it  came  to  pass,  at  the  return  of  the  year,  at 
the  time  when  kings  go  out  to  battle^  that  David  sent 
Joab,  and  his  servants  with  him,  and  all  Israel ;  and  they 
destroyed  the  children  of  Ammon,  and  besieged  Rabbah. 
But  David  tarried  at  Jerusalem. 
2      And  it  came  to  pass  at  eventide,  that  David  arose 

18.  The  divergent  details  of  David's  victory  which  are  found 
here,  in  viii.  4,  and  in  i  Chron.  xix.  18,  are  the  despair  alike  of 
the  textual  and  of  the  historical  critic. 

19.  This  representation  of  Hadadezer  as  the  head  of  a  number 
of  subject  kings  conflicts  both  with  viii.  3,  where  he  is  merely 
king  of  Zobah,  and  with  x.  6,  where  Zobah  is  one  of  four  co- 
ordinate states.  The  inference  has  been  already  drawn.  There 
is  no  reason,  however,  for  questioning  the  fact  that  David 
succeeded  in  establishing  a  suzerainty  over  these  principalities 
of  the  Jaulan.  The  date  may  have  been  after  the  close  of  the 
Ammonite  war. 

xi.  1.  at  the  return  of  the  year:  in  the  following  spring,  after 
the  rains  had  ceased  about  the  beginning  of  May.  This  was  the 
usual  time,  as  the  narrator  informs  us,  for  resuming  warlike 
operations  (cf.  i  Kings  xx.  22,  26).  The  second  campaign  opened 
with  the  siege  of  Kabbah,  the  Ammonite  capital,  which  stood 
some  twenty  miles,  as  the  crow  flies,  east  of  the  Jordan  at  the 
head  of  the  Wadi  Amman.  Under  the  name  of  Philadelphia  it 
had  an  honourable  history  from  the  time  of  Ptolemy  Philadelphus 
to  the  third  century  a.  d.     Its  modern  name  is  Amman. 

(b)  xi.  2-27.  David  and  Bath-sheba. 

2.  David's  new  palace  on  the  eastern  ridge  (vi,  11)  would  over- 


II    SAMUEL  11.  2,-s.     C  241 

from  off  his  bed,  and  walked  upon  the  roof  of  the  king's 
house  :  and  from  the  roof  he  saw  a  woman  bathing ;  and 
the  woman  was  very  beautiful  to  look  upon.    And  David  3 
sent  and  inquired  after  the  woman.     And  one  said,  Is 
not  this  Bath-sheba,  the  daughter  of  Eliam,  the  wife  of 
Uriah  the  Hittite  ?  And  David  sent  messengers,  and  took  4 
her;  and  she  came  in  unto  him,  and  he  lay  with  her; 
(for  she  was  purified  from  her  uncleanness ; )  and  she 
returned  unto  her  house.     And  the  woman  conceived ;  5 
and  she  sent  and  told  David,  and  said,  I  am  with  child. 
And  David  sent  to  Joab,  saying,  Send  me  Uriah   the  6 
Hittite.     And  Joab  sent  Uriah  to  David.     And  when  7 
Uriah  was  come  unto  him,  David  asked  of  him  how 
Joab  did,  and  how  the  people  fared,  and  how  the  war 
prospered.     And  David  said  to  Uriah,  Go  down  to  thy  8 
house,  and  wash  thy  feet.     And  Uriah  departed  out  of 

look  the  houses  on  at  least  three  sides.  The  time  was  late  after- 
noon, when  David  had  finished  his  siesta  (cf.  iv.  5).  The  motive 
of  the  bath  is  suggested  by  the  parenthesis  in  verse  4  (see  Lev. 
XV.  19ft'.;. 

3.  Bath-sheba:  in  i  Chron,  iii.  5  'Bath-shua'  by  a  mistaken 
pointing  for  *  Bath-sheva,'  a  variant  pronunciation  merely.  Her 
husband  Uriah  and  her  father  Eliam  are  both  enrolled  in  David's 
second  order  of  knighthood  (xxiii.  34,  39).  The  latter  was  the  son 
of  the  famous  Ahithophel  (cf.  on  xv.  la}. 

Uriah  the  Hittite.  The  name  Uriah,  probably  'Yahweh  is 
light '  or  '  fire,'  shows  either  that  his  father  had  been  a  Yahweh- 
worshipper  before  him.  or  that  Uriah  had  taken  this  name  when 
admitted  as  a  ger  to  the  cultus  of  his  patron.  We  learn  further 
from  this  passage  that  in  those  early  days  non-Hebrew  ^m;«  or 
outlanders  enjoyed  the  cominbiuHi — the  right  of  intermarriage — 
in  contrast  to  the  rigid  exclusiveness  of  a  later  period, 

6  ff.  To  conceal  his  crime  David  devises  a  scheme  which  is 
frustrated  by  the  husband's  religious  scruples  as  a  '  consecrated ' 
soldier.  For  the  sexual  taboo  enforced  in  war-time,  see  on 
I  Sam.  xxi.  5  (p.  148). 

7.  did,  .  .  .  fared,  .  .  .  prospered:  variant  renderings  of  the 
idiomatic  Hebrew  phrase  *  to  ask  after  the  welfare  (///.  peace) '  of 
some  one. 

R 


242  II   SAMUEL  11.  9-15.     C 

the  king's  house,  and  there  followed  him  a  mess  of  meat 

9  from  the  king.    But  Uriah  slept  at  the  door  of  the  king's 

house  with  all  the  servants  of  his  lord,  and  went  not 

10  down  to  his  house.  And  when  they  had  told  David, 
saying,  Uriah  went  not  down  unto  his  house,  David  said 
unto  Uriah,  Art  thou  not  come  from  a  journey?  where- 

1 1  fore  didst  thou  not  go  down  unto  thine  house  ?  And 
Uriah  said  unto  David,  The  ark,  and  Israel,  and  Judah. 
abide  in  booths ;  and  my  lord  Joab,  and  the  servants  of 
my  lord,  are  encamped  in  the  open  field ;  shall  I  then 
go  into  mine  house,  to  eat  and  to  drink,  and  to  he  with  my 
wife  ?  as  thou  livest,  and  as  thy  soul  liveth,  I  will  not  do 

12  this  thing.  And  David  said  to  Uriah,  Tarry  here  to-day 
also,  and  to-morrow  I  will  let  thee  depart.     So  Uriah 

13  abode  in  Jerusalem  that  day,  and  the  morrow.  And 
when  David  had  called  him,  he  did  eat  and  drink  before 
him ;  and  he  made  him  drunk  :  and  at  even  he  went  out 
to  lie  on  his  bed  with  the  servants  of  his  lord,  but  went 

14  not  down  to  his  house.  And  it  came  to  pass  in  the 
morning,  that  David  wrote  a  letter  to  Joab,  and  sent  it 

15  by  the  hand  of  Uriah.  And  he  wrote  in  the  letter, 
saying,  Set  ye  Uriah  in  the  forefront  of  the  hottest  battle. 


8.  a  mess  of  meat  from  the  king:  lit.  'a  portion'  or  'gift 
from  the  king.'  Such  a  gift  was  a  special  mark  of  favour  from 
a  superior  (see  Gen.  xliii.  34"). 

11.  The  presence  of  the  Ark,  as  the  visible  representative  of 
the  deity,  with  the  army  on  active  service,  which  this  passage 
attests,  is  a  significant  fact  in  early  Hebrew  religion.  See  the 
Appendix,  and  cf.  on  x.  12,  xv.  24. 

as  thou  livest :   read,  to  obviate  the  tautology,  '  as  Yahweh 
liveth'  (Wellhausen).     See  on  i  Sam.  xx.  3. 

13  if.  The  narrator  continues  unsparingly  to  unfold  a  second 
and  still  more  discreditable  attempt  to  break  down  Uriah's  self- 
restraint.  Finally,  in  despair  of  overcoming  the  soldier's  scruples, 
David  resolves  upon  his  death.     Verse  13  should  begin  thus  : 

'And  on  the  morrow  when  David,'  &c.,  as  in  the  margin. 


II   SAMUEL  11.  16-23.     C  243 

and  retire  ye  from  him,  that  he  may  be  smitten,  and  die. 
And  it  came  to  pass,  when  Joab  kept  watch  upon  the  16 
city,  that  he  assigned  Uriah  unto  the  place  where  he 
knew  that  valiant  men  were.     And  the  men  of  the  city  1 7 
went  out,  and  fought  with  Joab  :  and  there  fell  some  of 
the  people,  even  of  the  servants  of  David ;  and  Uriah 
the  Hittite  died  also.     Then  Joab  sent  and  told  David  18 
all  the  things  concerning  the  war;  and  he  charged  the  19 
messenger,  saying,  When   thou  hast  made   an  end  of 
telling  all  the  things  concerning  the  war  unto  the  king, 
it  shall  be  that,  if  the  king's  wrath  arise,  and  he  say  unto  20 
thee,  Wherefore  went  ye  so  nigh  unto  the  city  to  fight  ? 
knew  ye  not  that  they  would  shoot  from  the  wall  ?  who  2  r 
smote  Abimelech   the   son    of  Jerubbesheth  ?    did  not 
a  woman  cast  an  upper  millstone  upon  him   from  the 
wall,  that  he  died  at  Thebez  ?  why  went  ye  so  nigh  the 
wall  ?  then  shalt  thou  say,  Thy  servant  Uriah  the  Hittite 
is  dead  also.     So  the  messenger  went,  and  came  and  22 
shewed  David  all  that  Joab  had  sent  him  for.     And  the  23 


:<}.  16-25.  Jonb  carries  out  his  masters  order  and  Uriah  falls  in 
battle. 

18  fF.  Joab  sends  a  messenger  to  report  verbally  to  David  on 
the  sortie  and  the  loss  of  life  it  had  entailed.  Anticipating  that 
the  latter  v/ould  censure  his  rashness,  Joab  instructs  the  reporter 
to  inform  David  that  Uriah  was  among  the  slain.  The  narrator 
evidently  wishes  us  to  understand  that  Joab  had  grasped  the 
situation,  and  confidently  counted  upon  the  effect  of  the  last 
item  of  news  upon  the  king. 

21.  Abimelech  the  son  of  Jerubbesheth:  a  disguised  form 
of  Jerub-baal  (see  on  ii.  18).  The  incident  is  told  in  Judges  ix. 
50  ff.  Thebez  is  generally  identified  with  the  modern  Tubas, 
about  halfway  between  Shechem  and  Beth-shan. 

22.  At  the  end  of  this  verse  the  Hebrew  text  has  dropped 
a  few  lines  preserved  in  the  Greek  version,  which  proceeds  thus  : 
'even  all  the  things  concerning  the  war'  (as  in  verse  18).  'And 
David  was  angry  with  Joab,  and  he  said  to  the  messenger,  Where- 
fore went  ye  so  nigh  unto  the  city  to  fight?' — and  so  on,  repeating 

R    2 


244  II   SAMUEL  11.  24— 12.  i.    C 

messenger  said  unto  David,  The  men  prevailed  against 
us,  and  came  out  unto  us  into  the  field,  and  we  were 

24  upon  them  even  unto  the  entering  of  the  gate.  And  the 
shooters  shot  at  thy  servants  from  off  the  wall  -,  and  some 
of  the  king's  servants  be  dead,  and  thy  servant  Uriah 

25  the  Hittite  is  dead  also.  Then  David  said  unto  the 
messenger.  Thus  shalt  thou  say  unto  Joab,  Let  not  this 
thing  displease  thee,  for  the  sword  devoureth  one  as  well 
as  another  :  make  thy  battle  more  strong  against  the  city, 

26  and  overthrow  it :  and  encourage  thou  him.  And  when 
the  wife  of  Uriah  heard  that  Uriah  her  husband  was 

27  dead,  she  made  lamentation  for  her  husband.  And 
when  the  mourning  was  past,  David  sent  and  took  her 
home  to  his  house,  and  she  became  his  wife,  and  bare 
him  a  son.  But  the  thing  that  David  had  done  displeased 
the  Lord. 

12      And  the  Lord  sent  Nathan  unto  David.     And  he 

with  slight  variations  the  words  of  verses  20  f.,  to  Svhy  went  yc 
so  nigh  the  wall  ? '  To  these  questions  the  messenger  replies  in 
verse  23. 

25.  The  result  is  precisely  as  Joab  anticipated.  Instead  of 
being  censured,  he  is  encouraged  to  persevere  with  the  siege. 

26  f.  After  a  short  period  of  mourning,  Bath-sheba  is  taken 
into  the  royal  harem.  The  last  clause  of  verse  27  is  the  intro- 
duction to  the  third  act  of  this  domestic  tragedy  (xii.  i5''-23). 

ic)  xii.  1-25.  David  rebuked  by  Nathan :  the  death  of  Bath-sheba' s 
child  and  the  birth  of  Solomon. 

The  objective  character  of  the  rest  of  this  history  of  David's 
family  life,  and  the  fact  that  in  the  further  development  of  the 
tragedy  no  reference  is  made  to  Nathan's  interposition,  while 
verse  15^,  as  has  just  been  pointed  out,  forms  an  excellent 
sequence  to  xi.  27,  have  led  several  recent  scholars  to  regard 
Nathan's  appearance  and  rebuke  as  an  addition  by  the  compiler 
from  another  source.  It  is  true  that  the  oldest  Hebrew  writers — 
and  C  is  the  earliest  we  have  (see  the  Introduction  pp.  8, 21)^ — were 
content  as  a  rule  to  allow  their  story  to  point  its  own  moral.  In 
the  present  instance,  for  example,  the  author  of  C  may  have  been 
content  with  allowing  his  readers  to  see  that  the  death  of  the  child 
was  sufficient  evidence  of  David's  sin  and  the  Divine  displeasure. 


II    SAMUEL  12.  2-8.     C  245 

came  unto  him,  and  said  unto  him,  There  were  two  men 
in  one  city  ;  the  one  rich,  and  the  other  poor.     The  rich  2 
man  had  exceeding  many  flocks  and  herds  :  but  the  poor  3 
man  had  nothing,  save  one  Httle  ewe  lamb,  which  he  had 
bought  and  nourished  up  :  and  it  grew  up  together  with 
him,  and  with  his  children ;  it  did  eat  of  his  own  morsel, 
and  drank  of  his  own  cup,  and  lay  in  his  bosom,  and  was 
unto  him  as  a  daughter.     And  there  came  a  traveller  4 
unto  the  rich  man,  and  he  spared  to  take  of  his  own  flock 
and  of  his  own  herd,  to  dress  for  the  wayfaring  man  that 
was  come  unto  him,  but  took  the  poor  man's  lamb,  and 
dressed  it  for  the  man  that  was  come  to  him.     And  5 
David's  anger  was  greatly  kindled  against  the  man ;  and 
he  said  to  Nathan,  As  the  Lord  liveth,  the  man  that  hath 
done  this  is  worthy  to  die :  and  he  shall  restore  the  lamb  6 
fourfold,  because  he  did  this  thing,  and  because  he  had 
no  pity. 

And  Nathan  said  to  David,  Thou  art  the  man.     Thus  7 
saith  the  Lord,  the  God  of  Israel,  I  anointed  thee  king 
over  Israel,  and  I  delivered  thee  out  of  the  hand  of  Saul ; 
and  I  gave  thee  thy  master's  house,  and  thy  master's  s 


On  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  sufficient  with  Wellhausen,  Kittel, 
and  others  to  regard  verses  10-12  as  having  been  inserted  b\-  the 
compiler  into  the  older  narrative  for  the  purpose  of  'underscoring 
the  moral  of  the  history,'  and  heightening  the  colour  of  the 
prophetic  rebuke,  and  to  leave  the  rest  of  the  chapter  to  C. 

1.  Nathan  approaches  David  ostensibly  to  ask  his  decision  in 
a  case  of  high-handed  oppression  of  a  poor  man  by  a  wealth}' 
neighbour.  In  realitj'  he  tells  the  parable  of  the  ewe  lamb,  one 
of  the  few  examples  in  the  O.  T.  of  this  species  of  composition. 

6.  fourfold:  read,  with  LXX,  'sevenfold.*  The  proverbial 
expression  of  the  Greek  text  is  more  likely  to  be  the  original. 
A  later  copyist  corrected  this  to  'fourfold'  in  order  to  harmonize 
with  the  law  of  Exod.  xxii.  i. 

7  ff.  David  is  convicted  out  of  his  own  mouth,  and  is,  moreover, 
accused  of  base  ingratitude  to  the  Author  of  all  his  good  fortune. 

8.  thy  master's  wives.    The  reference  is  to  the  ancient  custom 


246  II    SAMUEL  12.  9-14.     CRC 

wives  into  thy  bosom,  and  gave  thee  the  house  of  Israel 
and  of  Judah ;  and  if  that  had  been  too  Httle,  I  would 
9  have  added  unto  thee  such  and  such  things.  Wherefore 
hast  thou  despised  the  word  of  the  Lord,  to  do  that 
which  is  evil  in  his  sight?  thou  hast  smitten  Uriah  the 
Hittite  with  the  sword,  and  hast  taken  his  wife  to  be  thy 
wife,  and  hast  slain  him  with  the  sword  of  the  children 

10  of  Ammon.  [R]  Now  therefore,  the  sword  shall  never 
depart  from  thine  house ;  because  thou  hast  despised  me, 
and  hast  taken  the  wife  of  Uriah  the  Hittite  to  be  thy  wife. 

11  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  Behold,  I  will  raise  up  evil  against 
thee  out  of  thine  own  house,  and  I  will  take  thy  wives 
before  thine  eyes,  and  give  them  unto  thy  neighbour, 
and  he  shall  He  with  thy  wives  in  the  sight  of  this  sun. 

12  For  thou  didst  it  secretly  :  but  I  will  do  this  thing  before 
i.^  all  Israel,  and  before  the  sun.     [C]  And  David  said  unto 

Nathan,  I  have  sinned  against  the  Lord,     And  Nathan 

said  unto  David,  The  Lord  also  hath  put  av^ray  thy  sin ; 

14  thou  shalt  not  die.     Howbeit,  because  by  this  deed  thou 

by  which  a  sovereign's  harem  passed  with  the  crown  to  his 
successor.  For  an  ilhistration  see  xvi.  21  f,  and  cf.  i  Kings  ii. 
17  ff.  with  Skinner's  notes  (Century  Bible). 

10-12.  The  nature  of  these  three  verses  has  been  pointed  out 
in  the  introductory  note  above.  It  can  scarcely  be  doubted  that 
they  are  a  vaticinium  post  eventum  inserted  by  the  compiler  or 
another  into  the  original  text  of  1-15.  According  to  the  latter 
David's  crime  is  to  find  its  punishment  solely  in  the  death  of  his 
child  (verse  14),  The  opening  words  (verse  10)  are  a  reflection 
of  the  family  feuds  which  brought  about  the  deaths  of  Amnon, 
Absalom,  and  Adonijah,  while  verse  11  clearly  alludes  to  the  unfilial 
conduct  of  the  latter  as  related  below  (xvi.  21  f.\ 

13  continues  verse  9,  and  gives  David's  confession  of  his  sin 
which  calls  forth  the  assurance  that  Yahweh  had  caused  his  sin  to 
pass  away  (so  literally).  '  The  sin  rested  upon  David  and  would 
(if  not  taken  away)  work  death  for  him.  Yahweh  took  it  away, 
that  he  should  not  die,  but  it  wrought  the  death  of  the  child  ' 
(H.  P.  Smith). 

14.   Read  :    '  Howbeit,  because  thou  hast  despised  Yahweh  in 


II    SAMUEL  12.  15-20.     II  C  ,  247 

hast  given  great  occasion  to  the  eneniies  of  the  Lord  to 
blaspheme,  the  child  also  that  is  born  unto  thee  shall 
surely  die.     And  Nathan  departed  unto  his  house.  15 

And  the  Lord  struck  the  child  that  Uriah's  wife  bare 
unto  David,  and  it  was  very  sick.     David  therefore  be-  16 
sought  God  for  the  child;  and  David  fasted,  and  went 
in,  and  lay  all  night  upon  the  earth.     And  the  elders  of  17 
his  house  arose,  a?id  stood  beside  him,  to  raise  him  up 
from  the  earth  :   but  he  would  not,  neither  did  he  eat 
bread  with  them.     And  it  came  to  pass  on  the  seventh  i8 
day,  that  the  child  died.     And  the  servants  of  David 
feared  to  tell  him  that  the  child  was  dead  :  for  they  said, 
Behold,  while  the  child  was  yet  alive,  we  spake  unto  him, 
and  he  hearkened  not  unto  our  voice :  how  will  he  then 
vex  himself,  if  we  tell  him  that  the  child  is  dead  ?   But  19 
when  David  saw  that  his  servants  whispered  together, 
David  perceived  that  the  child  was  dead  :  and  David  said 
unto  his  servants,  Is  the  child  dead  ?   And  they  said.  He 
is  dead.     Then  David  arose  from  the  earth,  and  washed,  20 
and  anointed  himself,  and  changed  his  apparel ;  and  he 
came  into  the  house  of  the  Lord,  and  worshipped  :  then 

this  thing.'  The  verb  rendered  *  give  occasion  to  blaspheme  * 
nowhere  bears  this  meaning,  but  always  denotes  '  to  scorn, 
despise,'  with  Yahweh,  the  name  of  Yahweh,  &c.,  as  object. 
A  copyist  who  took  oftence  at  the  strong  language  of  the  original 
inserted  •'  enemies  of,'  as  in  a  similar  case,  i  Sam.  xxv.  22. 

xii.  i5''-23.      The  death  of  Bath-sheba's  child. 

16.  The  tenses  of  the  original  are  frequentative,  showing  that 
David  renewed  his  intercession  every  da}'  of  the  seven  (verse  18). 
The  place  to  which  David  went  in  is  not  specified.  The  context 
suggests  an  inner  room  in  the  palace  rather  than,  as  in  vii.  18,  the 
sacred  tent  (see  on  verse  20). 

17.  the  elders  of  his  house :  the  senior  officers  of  his  household. 

18.  The  R.V.  marginal  rendering  of  the  latter  half  of  the  verse 
is  closer  to  the  Hebrew  idiom. 

20.  came  Into  the  house  of  the  LORD  s  the  tent  which  he  had 
pitched  for  the  Ark  in  the  citadel  (vi.  17 ;  cf.  i  Kings  i.  39,  ii.  28). 


248  II   SAMUEL  12.  21-26.     C 

he  came  to  his  own  house ;  and  when  he  required  they 

21  set  bread  before  him,  and  he  did  eat.  Then  said  his 
servants  unto  him,  What  thing  is  this  that  thou  hast 
done?  thou  didst  fast  and  weep  for  the  child,  while  it 
was  alive ;  but  when  the  child  was  dead,  thou  didst  rise 

22  and  eat  bread.  And  he  said,  While  the  child  was  yet 
alive,  I  fasted  and  wept :  for  I  said,  Who  knoweth 
whether  the  Lord  will  not  be  gracious  to  me,  that  the 

23  child  may  live?  But  now  he  is  dead,  wherefore  should  I 
fast?    can  I  bring  him  back  again?    I  shall  go  to  him, 

24  but  he  shall  not  return  to  me.  And  David  comforted 
Bath-sheba  his  wife,  and  went  in  unto  her,  and  lay  with 
her :    and   she    bare   a   son,   and   he   called   his   name 

25  Solomon.  And  the  Lord  loved  him ;  and  he  sent  by 
the  hand  of  Nathan  the  prophet,  and  he  called  his  name 
Jedidiah,  for  the  Lord's  sake. 

26  Now  Joab  fought  against  Rabbah  of  the  children  of 

23.  David  consoles  himself  with  the  thought  that  the  child  lives 
— though  it  was  but  a  shadowy  existence — in  Sheol,  '  the  house  of 
meeting  for  all  living'  (Job  xxx.  23  R.V.  marg.).  There  by  and 
by  he  will  rejoin  his  child,  as  Jacob  hoped  to  go  to  Joseph  (Gen. 
xxxvii.  35),  This  thought  of  a  continued  existence  of  a  sort  in 
Sheol  is  reflected  in  the  frequent  O.  T.  phrase,  'he  was  gathered 
to  his  fathers.'  On  the  early  Hebrew  conceptions  of  the  after- 
world,  see  A.  B.  Davidson,  T/ie  Theology  of  the  O.  T.,  425  ff.  ; 
Charles,  Eschatology^  33  ff.  ;   Driver,  Sermons  on  the  O.  T.,  72  ff. 

24  f.  Birth  of  Solomon.  The  easiest  construction  of  the  some- 
what difficult  text  is  to  take  the  last  clause  of  verse  24  with  the 
following  verse  :  '  And  Yahweh  loved  him,  and  sent  by  the  hand 
of  Nathan  the  prophet,  and  called  his  name  Yedidyah  (the  beloved 
of  Yahweh).' 

The  following  words,  for  the  ZiOBD'S  sake,  have  been  added 
by  a  reader  who  misunderstood  the  construction  of  the  sentence. 
It  should  be  added,  however,  that  some  scholars  would  read  : 
*and  he  (David)  committed  him  to  the  charge  (Jit.  hand)  of 
Nathan.'  That  Nathan  acted  as  Solomon's  tutor  would  be  an 
interesting  biographical  detail  could  it  be  substantiated. 

(ff)  xii.  26-31.      The  capture  of  Rabbah. 

Our  author  now  resumes  the  thread  of  the  narrative  which  was 


II    SAMUEL  12.  27-.V.     C  249 

Ammon,  and  took  the  royal  city.     And  Joab  sent  mes-  27 
sengers  to  David,  and  said,  I  have  fought  against  Rabbah, 
yea,  I  have  taken  the  city  of  waters.    Now  therefore  gather  28 
the  rest  of  the  people  together,  and  encamp  against  the 
city,  and  take  it :  lest  I  take  the  city,  and  it  be  called 
after  my  name.     And  David  gathered  all  the  people  29 
together,  and  went  to  Rabbah,  and  fought  against  it,  and 
took  it.     And  he  took  the  crown  of  their  king  from  off  30 
his  head ;  and  the  weight  thereof  was  a  talent  of  gold, 
and  in  if  ivere  precious  stones  ;  and  it  was  set  on  David's 
head.     And  he  brought  forth  the  spoil  of  the  city,  ex- 
ceeding much.     And  he  brought  forth  the  people  that  31 

dropped  after  xi.  i,  although  he  has  already  advanced  considerably 
beyond  the  date  of  this  section,  since  the  capture  of  Rabbah  was 
evidently  the  result  of  Joab's  second  summer  campaign. 

26  f.  and  took  the  royal  city.  This  reading,  which  stultifies 
Joab's  message,  is  clearly  a  cop3'ist's  slip  for  the  city  of  waters. 
Here,  as  in  v.  7,  9,  the  word  rendered  '  city '  has  its  original 
meaning  of  '  fortress  '  ;  hence  we  should  render  ''  the  Water  Fort,' 
the  work  defending  the  water  suppl}-.  An  interesting  parallel 
is  furnished  b}-  Polybius  (v.  71)  in  his  account  of  the  siege  of 
Rabbath-Ammon  by  Antiochus  Epiphanes,  The  latter  succeeded 
in  stopping  the  W'ater  supply,  when  the  garrison  surrendered 
(218  B.c.^.     The  city  proper  was  built  on  the  high  ground  above. 

28.  and  it  be  called  after  nxy  name :  literall}'  and  more 
expressively,  '  and  my  name  be  called  over  it '  (cf.  R.  V.  marg.), 
in  token  of  possession.  So  David  renamed  the  Jebusite  citadel 
'David's  burg'  (v.  7,  9).  Joab's  self-abnegation  in  this  case 
should  not  be  forgotten  in  our  estimate  of  the  character  of  this 
truculent  but  loyal  subject. 

30.  he  took  the  crown  of  their  king*,  &c.  If  the  weight  of  the 
crown  in  question  is  correctly  given  as  a  talent — 54  lb.  avoir- 
dupois at  the  lowest  computation  (see  Hastings'  DB.  iii.  419, 
iv.  903) — it  is  impossible  that  it  could  have  been  worn  either  bj' 
Hanun  or  by  David.  But  the  same  consonants  as  yield  '  their 
king'  ma}'  be  read  *  Milcom,'  the  national  deity  of  the  Ammonites 
(note  margin)  ;  and  this,  the  reading  of  most  Greek  MSS.,  is  un- 
doubtedh'  original.  In  the  sequel  we  should  read:  'and  in  it 
(the  crown  of  Milcom)  was  a  precious  stone,  which  was  set  upon 
David's  head.' 

31.  The  old  controversy  as  to  whether  the  Ammonites  were 


250  II   SAMUEL  13.  i,  2.     C 

were  therein,  and  put  them  under  saws,  and  under 
harrows  of  iron,  and  under  axes  of  iron,  and  made  them 
pass  through  the  brickkiln  :  and  thus  did  he  unto  all  the 
cities  of  the  children  of  Ammon.  And  David  and  all 
the  people  returned  unto  Jerusalem. 
13  And  it  came  to  pass  after  this,  that  Absalom  the  son 
of  David  had  a  fair  sister,  whose  name  was  Tamar ;  and 
2  Amnon  the  son  of  David  loved  her.  And  Amnon  was 
so  vexed  that  he  fell  sick  because  of  his  sister  Tamar ; 

savagely  done  to  death  by  means  of  certain  instruments  of  torture 
here  enumerated,  or  whether  they  were  merely  set  to  various 
forms  of  hard  labour,  is  reflected  in  the  alternative  renderings  of 
the  text  and  margin  of  R.  V.  The  text  advocates  torture,  the 
margin  hard  labour.  The  latter  is  supported  by  the  grammar  and 
the  lexicon,  and  is  the  view  now  generally  adopted.  Render 
somewhat  as  follows  :  'and  he  set  them  to  saws  and  iron  picks 
and  iron  axes  and  made  them  labour  at  the  brick-moulds.'  For 
a  full  discussion  of  the  difficulties  see  Driver's  Notes  in  loc. 

C.  2  Sam.  xiii-xiv.  Amnon  and  Absalom. 
From  this  point  to  the  end  of  ch.  xx,  this  history  of  David's  court 
is  continued  in  precise  chronological  sequence.  The  incidents 
and  episodes  are  almost  all  mutually  related  as  cause  and  effect. 
Thus,  to  take  only  the  most  outstanding,  Amnon's  lust  leads  to 
Absalom's  revenge,  the  sequel  of  which  is  banishment  to  a  heathen 
land.  As  he  broods  in  exile  over  his  fancied  wrongs,  the 
prince's  character  deteriorates,  and  this  deterioration  in  due  course 
issues  in  his  ambitious  attempt  to  seize  the  throne  and  all  that 
flowed  therefrom.  The  progress  of  the  narrative  is  marked  by 
three  stages,  {a)  xiii.  1-22,  (6)  xiii.  23-39,  (0  ^^v. 

{a)  xiii.   1-22.     Amnon  deforces  Tauiar,  the  sister  of  Absalom. 

1.  Absalom  the  son  of  David.  The  narrator  introduces  us  at 
once  to  the  young  prince  who  is  the  central  figure  in  the  tragic 
events  to  be  disclosed  in  the  following  chapters.  Absalom  and 
Tamar  were  full  brother  and  sister,  children  of  Maacah,  daughter 
of  the  king  of  Geshur  (iii.  3).  Amnon  was  David's  first-born, 
the  son  of  Ahinoam  the  Jezreelitess  (iii.  2),  and  therefore  Tamar's 
half-brother.  The  case  of  Abraham  and  Sarah  shows  that 
marriage  between  the  children  of  the  same  father  by  different 
mothers  was  sanctioned  by  early  Hebrew  custom  (cf.  verse  13, 
end\  though  forbidden  by  the  later  legislation  (Lev.  xviii.  9). 

2.  An  excellent  illustration  both  of  the  strong  emotions  and  of 


II    SAMUEL  13.  3-9.     C  251 

for  she  was  a  virgin ;  and  it  seemed  hard  to  Amnon  to 
do  any  thing  unto  her.     But  Amnon  had  a  friend,  whose  ?, 
name  was  Jonadab,  the  son  of  Shimeah  David's  brother  : 
and  Jonadab  was  a  very  subtil  man.     And  he  said  unto  4 
him,  Why,  O  son  of  the  king,  art  thou  thus  lean  from 
day  to  day?  wilt  thou  not  tell  me?   And  Amnon  said 
unto  him,  I  love  Tamar,  my  brother  Absalom's  sister. 
And  Jonadab  said  unto  him,  Lay  thee  down  on  thy  bed,  5 
and  feign  thyself  sick :  and  when  thy  father  cometh  to 
see  thee,  say  unto  him.  Let  my  sister  Tamar  come^  I 
pray  thee,  and  give  me  bread  to  eat,  and  dress  the  food 
in  my  sight,  that  I  may  see  it,  and  eat  it  at  her  hand. 
So  Amnon  lay  down,  and  feigned  himself  sick  :  and  when  6 
the  king  was  come  to  see  him,  Amnon  said  unto  the 
king,  Let  my  sister  Tamar  come,  I  pray  thee,  and  make 
me  a  couple  of  cakes  in  my  sight,  that  I  may  eat  at  her 
hand.     Then  David  sent  home  to  Tamar,  saying,  Go  7 
now  to  thy  brother  Amnon's  house,  and  dress  him  food. 
So  Tamar  went  to  her  brother  Amnon's  house ;  and  he  S 
was  laid  down.     And  she  took  dough,  and  kneaded  it, 
and  made  cakes  in  his  sight,  and  did  bake  the  cakes. 
And  she  took  the  pan,  and  poured  them  out  before  him  ;  9 
but  he  refused  to  eat.     And  Amnon  said.  Have  out  all 
men  from  me.     And  they  went  out  every  man  from  him. 

the  social  customs  of  the  East.  Amnon  was  literally  '  sick  of 
love '  (Cant,  ii.  5,  v.  8.  and  the  Arabian  Kx^hXspasswi)^  and  had  few 
opportunities  of  seeing  the  unmarried  members  of  the  royal 
harem,  and  probably  none  of  seeing  Tamar  alone. 

3  introduces  Amnon's  subtil  cousin  and  Mephistopheles. 

*7.  David  sent  home  to  Tajtnar :  rather,  '  sent  (a  message)  to 
the  palace  to  Tamar.'  Amnon,  as  the  king's  eldest  son,  evidently 
had  a  separate  establishment. 

9f.  The  sequence  of  the  action  in  these  two  verses  is  difficult 
to  follow.  We  should  probably  read  with  Klostermann,  by 
a  slight  change  :  'And  she  called  the  attendant  (cf.  verse  17), 
and  he  poured  them  out  before  him.'     The  untasted  cakes,  we 


252  II    SAMUEL  13.  10-16,     C 

TO  And  Amnon  said  unto  Tamar,  Bring  the  food  into  the 
chamber,  that  I  may  eat  of  thine  hand.  And  Tamar 
took  the  cakes  which  she  had  made,  and  brought  them 

1 1  into  the  chamber  to  Amnon  her  brother.  And  when  she 
had  brought  them  near  unto  him  to  eat,  he  took  hold  of 
her,  and  said  unto  her,  Come  lie  with  me,  my  sister. 

12  And  she  answered  him,  Nay,  my  brother,  do  not  force 
me ;  for  no  such  thing  ought  to  be  done  in  Israel :  do 

13  not  thou  this  folly.  And  I,  whither  shall  I  carry  my 
shame  ?  and  as  for  thee,  thou  shalt  be  as  one  of  the  fools 
in  Israel.     Now  therefore,  I  pray  thee,  speak  unto  the 

14  king ;  for  he  will  not  withhold  me  from  thee.  Howbeit 
he  w^ould  not  hearken  unto  her  voice  :  but  being  stronger 

15  than  she,  he  forced  her,  and  lay  with  her.  Then  Amnon 
hated  her  with  exceeding  great  hatred;  for  the  hatred 
wherewith  he  hated  her  was  greater  than  the  love  where- 
with he  had  loved  her.     And  Amnon  said  unto  her, 

16  Arise,  be  gone.  And  she  said  unto  him,  Not  so,  because 
this  great  wrong  in  putting  me  forth  is  7&orse  than  the 
other  that  thou  didst  unto  me.    But  he  would  not  hearken 


must  suppose,  the  attendant  brought  back  to  Tamar,  who  had  till 
then  modestly  refrained  from  entering  the  bed-chamber. 

12  f.  Tamar's  touching  appeal  to  her  brothers  conscience, 
setting  clearly  before  him  the  sinfulness  of  his  desire  and  the 
consequences  both  to  herself  and  to  him,  while  frankly  assuring 
him  of  her  willingness  to  enter  into  lawful  wedlock  with  him. 

do  not  thou  this  folly :  a  standing  expression  in  the  O.  T. 
for  acts  of  immorality,  hence  rather  '  this  villany,'  as  the  word 
is  rendered  in  Isa.  xxxii.  6;  'profligates'  and  'profligacy'  are 
nearer  the  mark  than  the  weaker  terms  '  fools '  (^ verse  13)  and 
'  folly.'  Morality,  it  will  be  observed,  finds  its  sanction  in 
custom,  not  in  a  written  code  (cf.  Kautzsch  in  Hastings'  DB., 
extra  vol.,  624**). 

15.  Amnon's  heartless  treatment  of  the  victim  of  his  lust 
betrays  the  hardened  profligate. 

16.  Read  :  '  Not  so,  my  brother,  for  greater  is  this  wrong  to 
send  me  away)  than  the  other  that  thou  didst  unto  me,'  for  which 
see  Driver,  Azotes  in  loc. 


II    SAMUEL  13.  17-23.     C  253 

unto  her.     Then  he  called  his  servant  that  ministered  17 
unto  him,  and  said,  Put  now  this  woman  out  from  me, 
and  bolt  the  door  after  her.     And  she  had  a  garment  of  18 
divers  colours  upon  her :  for  with  such  robes  were  the 
king's  daughters  that  were  virgins  apparelled.     Then  his 
servant  brought  her  out,  and  bolted  the  door  after  her. 
And  Tamar  put  ashes  on  her  head,  and  rent  her  garment  19 
of  divers  colours  that  was  on  her ;  and  she  laid  her  hand 
on  her  head,  and  went  her  way.  crying  aloud  as  she  went. 
And  Absalom  her  brother  said  unto  her.  Hath  Amnon  jo 
thy  brother  been  with  thee?   but  now  hold  thy  peace, 
my  sister  :  he  is  thy  brother ;  take  not  this  thing  to  heart. 
So  Tamar  remained  desolate  in  her  brother  Absalom's 
house.     But  when  king  David  heard  of  all  these  things,  21 
he  was  very  wroth.     And  Absalom  spake  unto  Amnon  23 
neither  good  nor  bad :   for  Absalom  hated  Amnon,  be- 
cause he  had  forced  his  sister  Tamar. 

And  it  came  to  pass  after  two  full  years,  that  Absalom  23 

18  f.  The  greater  part  of  verse  18  was  originally  a  marginal 
gloss  upon  lier  gariuent  of  divers  colotirs  in  verse  19.  This 
rendering  represents  the  Alexandrian  tradition  regarding  this 
garment,  which  is  mentioned  only  here  and  Gen.  xxxvii.  3  ft". 
Modern  authorities  give  '  a  tunic  of  palms  and  soles '  {Iti.  '  of 
extremities  '),  i.  e.  a  tunic  reaching  to  and  covering  hands  and  feet. 
It  was  evidently  a  mark  of  distinction  compared  with  the  ordinary 
short  tunic  which  had  no  sleeves. 

19.  She  laid  her  hand  on  her  head  :  an  attitude  of  grief 
frequently  represented  on  the  Egyptian  monuments. 

21.  Add,  with  LXX,  •  yet  did  he  not  pain  the  spirit  of  Amnon 
his  son,  for  he  loved  him  because  he  was  his  first-born.'  David, 
alas  !  took  no  measures  against  his  profligate  son.  The  same 
expression  is  used  by  our  author  of  David's  remissness  in  the  up- 
bringing of  Adonijah  (i  Kings  i.  6).  This  weakness  on  David's 
part  is  perhaps  the  most  conspicuous  defect  in  his  character. 
To  it,  as  the  iiistorian  clearly  perceived,  the  greatest  sorrows  of 
his  life  were  due. 

(b)  xiii.  23-29.     Abi.aloni's  revenge  and  flight. 

After  the  lapse  of  two  years  Absalom  embraces  the  occasion  of 


254  II   SAMUEL  13.  24-29.     C 

had  sheepshearers  in  Baal-hazor,  which  is  beside  Ephraim  : 

24  and  Absalom  invited  all  the  king's  sons.  And  Absalom 
came  to  the  king,  and  said,  Behold  now,  thy  servant  hath 
sheepsheaiers ;  let  the  king,  I  pray  thee,  and  his  servants 

25  go  with  thy  servant.  And  the  king  said  to  Absalom, 
Nay,  my  son,  let  us  not  all  go,  lest  we  be  burdensome 
unto  thee.     And  he  pressed  him  :  howbeit  he  would  not 

26  go,  but  blessed  him.  Then  said  Absalom,  If  not,  I  pray 
thee,  let  my  brother  Amnon  go  with  us.     And  the  king 

27  said  unto  him.  Why  should  he  go  with  thee?  But 
Absalom  pressed  him,  that  he  let  Amnon  and  all  the 

2S  king's  sons  go  with  him.  And  Absalom  commanded  his 
servants,  saying,  Mark  ye  now,  when  Amnon's  heart  is 
merry  with  wine;  and  when  I  say  unto  you.  Smite 
Amnon,  then  kill  him,  fear  not :  have  not  I  commanded 

29  you  ?  be  courageous,  and  be  valiant.  And  the  servants 
of  Absalom  did   unto  Amnon  as  Absalom   had   com- 

the  annual  sheep-shearing  to  invite  ail  the  king's  sons  to  the 
accompanying  festivities  (see  on  i  Sam.  xxv.  aff.).  When  the 
mercy-making  is  at  its  height,  Amnon  is  murdered  by  Absalom's 
order,  whereupon  the  latter  flees  to  the  court  of  his  grandfather, 
the  king  of  Geshur, 

23.  Baal-hazor,  which  is  heside  Ephraim.  Both  places  have 
been  identified  with  sites  near  Beth-el,  where  Absalom's  estate 
must  have  lain. 

26.  In  default  of  the  king,  Absalom  doubtless  gave  out  that  he 
would  be  honoured  by  the  presence  of  the  heir-apparent. 

27.  The  Greek  text  shows  that  a  line  has  fallen  out  at  the  end 
of  the  Hebrew.  The  last  two  lines  of  the  MS.  each  ended  in  the 
word  for  '  long,'  and  the  copyist's  eye  passed  inadvertently  from 
the  one  to  the  other  {hontoeotelettion  as  in  verse  34,  cf.  i  Sam.  x.  i). 
Read  :  '  and  Absalom  made  a  feast  like  the  feast  of  a  king.' 

29.  Amnon's  assassination  causes  a  panic  among  the  ro3'al 
guests.  The  mule  is  here  mentioned  for  the  first  time  (but  see 
on  I  Sam.  xxi.  7).  In  this  reign  it  seems  to  have  supplanted  the 
ass  as  the  mount  of  royalty  (i  Kings  i.  33)  and  of  the  royal  family. 
The  horse  was  used  only  for  the  war-chariots  (see  on  viii.  4). 
The  breeding  of  mules  and  other  hybrids  was  forbidden  by  the 
later  legislation  (Lev.  xix.  19). 


II    SAMUEL  13.  30-34.     C  255 

nianded.     Then  all  the  king's  sons  arose,  and  every  man 
gat  him  up  upon  his  mule,  and  fled.     And  it  came  to  30 
pass,  while  they  were  in  the  way,  that  the  tidings  came  to 
David,  saying,  Absalom  hath  slain  all  the  king's  sons, 
and  there  is  not  one  of  them  left.     Then  the  king  arose,  31 
and  rent  his  garments,  and  lay  on  the  earth ;  and  all  his 
servants  stood  by  with  their  clothes  rent.     And  Jonadab,  32 
the  son  of  Shimeah  David's  brother,  answered  and  said, 
Let  not  my  lord  suppose  that  they  have  killed  all  the 
young  men  the  king's  sons ;  for  Amnon  only  is  dead : 
for  by  the  appointment  of  Absalom  this  hath  been  de- 
termined from  the  day  that  he  forced  his  sister  Tamar. 
Now  therefore  let  not  my  lord  the  king  take  the  thing  to  33 
his  heart,  to  think  that  all  the  king's  sons  are  dead :  for 
Amnon   only   is   dead.     But   Absalom  fled.     And   the  34 
young  man  that  kept  the  watch  lifted  up  his  eyes,  and 
looked,  and,  behold,  there  came  much  people  by  the  way 

32.  for  "by  the  appointment  (/iV.  mouth)  of  Absalom,  &c.    The 

sentence  is  obscure  in  the  original ;  it  is  now  usual  to  read,  'for 
upon  the  mouth'  (better  perhaps  'the  face*)  *  of  Absalom  there 
hath  been  a  scowl  since  the  day,'  &c.  (so  Ewald,  History  of  Israel, 
iii.  172  ;  cf.  Driver,  Noics  in  loc),  a  graphic  touch  worthy  of  our 
court  historian  (C). 

34.  But  Absalom  fled.  The  threefold  repetition  of  this  state- 
ment (verses  34,  37,  38)  is  suspicious.  Here  we  have  probably 
a  corruption  of  the  last  v/ords  of  Jonadab's  speech  :  *  and  the 
rest  of  his  brethren  are  safe'  (Klost.,  Budde).  On  this  follows 
an  incident  of  which  the  scene  in  xviii.  25  ff.  aflfords  a  close 
parallel.  The  LXX  (slightly  emended  b3'  Wellhausen)  has  pre- 
served the  full  text  of  the  original,  reading  in  the  second  half  of 
the  verse  :  *  and  behold  there  came  much  people  by  the  way  of 
the  two  Beth-horons,  on  the  descent ;  and  the  watchman  came 
and  told  the  king,  saying,  I  see  men  coming  from  the  way  of 
the  two  Beth-horons  on  the  hill-side.'  The  scribe  of  the  Hebrew 
MS.  passed  from  the  one  way  to  the  other,  omitting  the  two  lines 
between.  The  curious  expression  behind  him  in  the  text  is  now 
seen  to  be  a  corruption  of  Horonaim,  the  two  Beth-horons,  upper 
and  lower  (Josh.  xvi.  3,  5),  lialfway  between  Jerusalem  and 
Lydda. 


256  II    SAMUEL  13.  35— M-  2.     C 

35  of  the  hill  side  behind  him.  And  Jonadab  said  unto  the 
king,  Behold,  the  king's  sons  are  come :  as  thy  servant 

36  said,  so  it  is.  And  it  came  to  pass,  as  soon  as  he  had 
made  an  end  of  speaking,  that,  behold,  the  king's  sons 
came,  and  lifted  up  their  voice,  and  wept :  and  the  king 

37  also  and  all  his  servants  wept  very  sore.  But  Absalom 
fled,  and  went  to  Talmai  the  son  of  Ammihur,  king  of 
Geshur.     And  David  mourned  for  his  son  every  day. 

38  So  Absalom  fled,  and  went  to  Geshur,  and  was  there 

39  three  years.  And  the  soul  of  king  David  longed  to  go 
forth  unto  Absalom :  for  he  was  comforted  concerning 
Amnon,  seeing  he  was  dead. 

14      Now   Joab   the   son   of  Zeruiah   perceived   that   the 
2  king's  heart  was  toward  Absalom.     And    Joab  sent  to 

37-39.  The  text  of  these  verses  is  clearly  overloaded  (cf.  38*==; 
37*).  Three  points  are  emphasized  by  the  historian,  Absalom's 
flight,  David's  mourning  for  his  first-born,  and  finally  the  growth 
of  an  intense  longing  on  David's  part  for  the  absent  Absalom. 

37.  Talmai  tlie  son  of  Ammihur,  king  of  Geshur  :  read, 
with  R.  V.  marg.,  'Ammihud'  (Num.  i.  10,  &c.).  He  was  the 
father  of  Absalom's  mother  Maacah.  For  Geshur  see  on  iii.  3  and 
X.  6.  Here  Absalom  remained  three  years,  so  that  this  chapter 
covers  the  space  of  five  years  (see  verse  23).  When  the  chapter 
opens  David  had  already  been  twenty  years,  more  or  less,  on  the 
united  throne,  since  the  sons  born  in  Hebron  are  now  grown  up. 

39.  The  Hebrew  text  is  unintelligible.  The  italics  of  R.  V. 
have  been  supplied  from  LXX  (L).  The  sense,  if  not  the  text,  is  : 
'  and  David's  spirit  was  consumed  with  a  longing  for  Absalom.' 
The  historian  thus  prepares  his  readers  for  the  next  chapter  of 
this  closely  articulated  story. 

(c)  xiv.  Joab  by  a  ruse  seatres  Absalom's  yeiurn  and  idtimate 
pardon. 

Absalom's  full  forgiveness  is  brought  about  by  two  stages.  In 
the  first,  Joab  obtains  David's  permission  to  bring  the  prince  back 
to  Jerusalem.  Here  he  continues  for  two  years  in  partial  disgrace 
until  Joab  is  again  persuaded  to  intervene,  when  a  full  recon- 
ciliation of  father  and  son  is  brought  about.  The  whole  is 
a  striking  testimony  at  once  to  Joab's  affection  for  his  sovereign 
''note  verse  i)  and  to  the  unique  position  which  he  occupied  at 
David's  court. 


II   SAMUEL  14.  3-7.     C  257 

Tekoa,  and  fetched  thence  a  wise  woman,  and  said  unto 
her,  I  pray  thee,  feign  thyself  to  be  a  mourner,  and  put 
on  mourning  apparel,  I  pray  thee,  and  anoint  not  thyself 
with  oil,  but  be  as  a  woman  that  had  a  long  time  mourned 
for  the  dead :  and  go  in  to  the  king,  and  speak  on  this  3 
manner  unto  him.    So  Joab  put  the  words  in  her  mouth. 
And  when  the  woman  of  Tekoa  spake  to  the  king,  she  4 
fell  on  her  face  to  the  ground,  and  did  obeisance,  and 
said,  Help,  O  king.     And  the  king  said  unto  her,  What  5 
aileth  thee?  And  she  answered.  Of  a  truth  I  am  a  widow 
woman,  and  mine  husband  is  dead.     And  thy  handmaid  6 
had  two  sons,  and  they  two  strove  together  in  the  field, 
and  there  was  none  to  part  them,  but  the  one  smote  the 
other,  and  killed  him.     And,  behold,  the  whole  family  7 
is  risen  against  thine  handmaid,  and  they  said.  Deliver 
him  that  smote  his  brother,  that  we  may  kill  him  for  the 
life  of  his  brother  whom  he  slew,  and  so  destroy  the  heir 
also :  thus  shall  they  quench  my  coal  which  is  left,  and 

2.  Tekoa:  the  birthplace  of  Amos,  about  six  miles  south  of 
Beth-lehem. 

4.  spake  to  the  king :  read,  with  some  Hebrew  MSB.  and  all 
Versions,  'came  to  the  king,'  as  the  ultimate  court  of  appeal  in 
matters  of  justice. 

*7.  The  whole  clan  to  which  the  brothers  belonged  took  upon 
themselves,  according  to  tribal  law  and  custom,  the  duty  of  blood- 
revenge,  that  is,  of  securing  the  death  of  the  murderer  as  punish- 
ment for  the  life  he  had  taken.  The  task  of  finding  and  slaying 
the  murderer  was  delegated  by  the  clan  to  one  of  their  number, 
the  goei  or  'avenger  of  blood'  (verse  11).  For  details  of  this 
ancient  institution  of  blood-revenge  see  the  articles  '  Goel '  in  EBi. 
(Driver)  and  Hastings'  BB.  (Kennedy).  The  incident  before  us 
is  instructive  as  showing  how  under  the  monarchy  the  central 
authority  had  already  begun  to  exercise  a  salutary  control  over 
the  excesses  of  tribal  zeal. 

and  so  destroy  tlie  heir  also:  a  clever  insinuation  that 
the  desire  to  secure  the  survivor's  property  was  also  an  element 
in  the  case. 

qnench  my  coal  which  is  left:  a  pathetic  figure  for  the 
extinction  of  one's  family  as  explained  in  the  following  clause. 

S 


258  II    SAMUEL  14.  8-13.     C 

shall  leave  to  my  husband  neither  name  nor  remainder 

8  upon  the  face  of  the  earth.  And  the  king  said  unto  the 
woman,   Go   to   thine   house,    and    I   will   give   charge 

9  concerning  thee.  And  the  woman  of  Tekoa  said  unto 
the  king,  My  lord,  O  king,  the  iniquity  be  on  me,  and 
on  my  father's  house  :  and  the  king  and  his  throne  be 

10  guiltless.  And  the  king  said,  Whosoever  saith  aught 
unto  thee,  bring  him  to  me,  and  he  shall  not  touch  thee 

11  any  more.  Then  said  she,  I  pray  thee,  let  the  king 
remember  the  Lord  thy  God,  that  the  avenger  of  blood 
destroy  not  any  more,  lest  they  destroy  my  son.  And  he 
said.  As  the  Lord  liveth,  there  shall  not  one  hair  of  thy 

12  son  fall  to  the  earth.  Then  the  woman  said.  Let  thine 
handmaid,  I  pray  thee,  speak  a  word  unto  my  lord  the 

13  king.  And  he  said.  Say  on.  And  the  woman  said, 
Wherefore  then  hast  thou  devised  such  a  thing  against 
the  people  of  God  ?  for  in  speaking  this  word  the  king 
is  as  one  which  is  guilty,  in  that  the  king  doth  not  fetch 

9  ff.  '  These  verses,'  says  Budde,  '  furnish  an  exquisite  picture 
of  female  loquacity  and  insistence  and  of  royal  forbearance '  (cf. 
this  distinguished  commentator's  criticism  of  Abigail,  p.  165  above). 
Instead,  however,  of  regarding  this  *  picture  from  the  life  '  as 
showing  how  careful  a  Hebrew  king  had  to  be  in  dealing  with 
his  free  subjects  (Budde),  we  would  rather  see  in  it  a  reflection 
of  two  excellent  traits  in  David's  character — his  sympathy  with 
his  subjects,  and  his  desire  to  deal  out  even-handed  justice 
to  all. 

11.  the  aveugrer  of  blood:  see  on  verse  7.  The  king,  as 
requested,  swears  '  by  the  life  of  Yahweh '  that  the  avenger's 
hand  shall  be  stayed. 

12  ff.  The  woman  has  gained  her  case  and  now  proceeds  to 
apply  her  parable.  Verse  13  consists  of  three  sentences,  of  which 
the  last,  in  that  the  king*,  &c.,  is  explanatory  of  such  a  thingr  in 
the  first  sentence,  while  the  second  is  merely  a  parenthesis.  The 
sense  of  the  whole  is  that  the  king  stands  self-convicted  of  acting 
like  the  avenger  of  blood  who  sought  to  slay  the  woman's  son 
and  heir,  for  by  keeping  Absalom  in  exile  David  is  depriving  the 
people  of  Q-od  of  the  heir  to  their  throne. 


II   SAMUEL  14.  14-17.     C  259 

home  again  his  banished  one.     For  we  must  needs  die,  14 
and  are  as  water  spilt  on  the  ground,  which  cannot  be 
gathered  up  again  ;  neither  doth  God  take  away  life,  but 
deviseth   means,  that  he   that  is  banished   be   not  an 
outcast  from  him.     Now  therefore  seeing  that  I  am  come  15 
to  speak  this  word  unto  my  lord  the  king,  it  is  because 
the  people  have  made  me  afraid :    and  thy  handmaid 
said,  I  will  now  speak  unto  the  king ;  it  may  be  that  the 
king  will  perform  the  request  of  his  servant.     For  the  16 
king  will  hear,  to  deliver  his  servant  out  of  the  hand  of 
the  man  that  would  destroy  me  and  my  son  together 
out  of  the  inheritance  of  God.     Then  thine  handmaid  17 
said,  Let,  I  pray  thee,  the  word  of  my  lord  the  king  be 
comfortable :  for  as  an  angel  of  God,  so  is  my  lord  the 

14.  A  diflBcult  verse,  the  second  half  being  particularly  obscure. 
Two  things  are  clear,  (i)  that  he  that  is  banished  must  here,  as  in 
verse  13,  represent  Absalom,  and  therefore  (2)  that  the  latter  half  of 
the  verse  cannot,  as  in  our  R.  V.  rendering,  be  a  general  statement 
of  God's  long-suffering  mercy  to  sinners.  Ewald's  simple  emenda- 
tion, now  generally  accepted,  gives  the  following :  '  but  God  will 
not  take  away  the  life  of  him  who  deviseth  ^  means  whereby  one 
that  is  banished  may  not  remain  banished  from  Him.'  In  the  first 
half  of  the  verse,  accordingly,  the  wise  woman  suggests  that  at 
any  moment  it  may  be  too  late  to  show  kindness  to  Absalom,  so 
uncertain  and  irrevocable  are  human  life  and  opportunity  ;  in  the 
second  half  she  conveys  to  David  an  assurance  of  long  life  and 
Divine  favour  should  he  now  bring  back  his  son,  for  in  so  doing 
he  would  restore  to  Yahweh  and  His  worship  one  who,  in  being 
banished  from  the  soil  of  Canaan,  was  ipso  facto  banished  from  the 
more  immediate  presence  of  Yahweh,  For  this  thought  see  on 
X  Sam.  xxvi.  19. 

15-17.  With  verse  14  the  woman  has  clearly  reached  the  end 
of  her  commission,  which  verse  i8  shows  that  David  now  under- 
stood. It  is  surprising,  therefore,  to  find  her  in  these  verses 
reverting  to  her  original  suit,  and  there  is  much  to  be  said  for  the 
view  that  verses  15-17  originally  stood  between  verses  7  and  8 
(Cook,  Amer.  Journ.  of  Sent.  Languages,  1900,  Budde  in  loc.% 

17.  as  an  augrel  of  God:  the  woman  ascribes  to  David  a  more 

'  Reading  2ir^n  for  nu?ni. 
S  C 


26o  II   SAMUEL  14.  iS-24.     C 

king  to  discern  good  and  bad :  and  the  Lord  thy  God 

18  be  with  thee.  Then  the  king  answered  and  said  unto 
the  woman,  Hide  not  from  me,  I  pray  thee,  aught  that 
I  shall  ask  thee.     And  the  woman  said,  Let  my  lord  the 

19  king  now  speak.  And  the  king  said,  Is  the  hand  of 
Joab  with  thee  in  all  this  ?  And  the  woman  answered  and 
said,  As  thy  soul  liveth,  my  lord  the  king,  none  can  turn 
to  the  right  hand  or  to  the  left  from  aught  that  my  lord 
the  king  hath  spoken  :  for  thy  servant  Joab,  he  bade  me, 
and  he   put   all   these   words   in   the   mouth   of  thine 

20  handmaid  :  to  change  the  face  of  the  matter  hath  thy 
servant  Joab  done  this  thing:  and  my  lord  is  wise, 
according  to  the  wisdom  of  an  angel  of  God,  to  know  all 

21  things  that  are  in  the  earth.  And  the  king  said  unto 
Joab,  Behold  now,  I  have  done  this  thing  :  go  therefore, 

22  bring  the  young  man  Absalom  again.  And  Joab  fell  to 
the  ground  on  his  face,  and  did  obeisance,  and  blessed 
the  king  :  and  Joab  said.  To-day  thy  servant  knoweth 
that  I  have  found  grace  in  thy  sight,  my  lord,  O  king,  in 
that  the  king  hath  performed  the  request  of  his  servant. 

23  So  Joab  arose  and  went  to  Geshur,  and  brought  Absalom 

24  to  Jerusalem.  And  the  king  said.  Let  him  turn  to  his 
own  house,  but  let  him  not  see  my  face.  So  Absalom 
turned  to  his  own  house,  and  saw  not  the  king's  face. 

than  human  clearness  of  perception  to  discern  the  right;  cf.  verse 
20,  xix.  27. 

19.  The  woman's  reply  begins  with  'an  admiring  testimony  to 
the  king's  shrewdness.' 

24.  David's  vacillating  treatment  of  his  sons  has  already  been 
characterized  as  a  serious  blemish  in  his  character  (see  on  xiii.  21). 
When  he  ought  to  have  exercised  discipline  he  was  inexcusably 
indulgent.  Now  when  he  might  be  expected  to  be  indulgent  and 
forgiving,  he  is  unnecessarily  harsh.  Humanly  speaking,  David 
might  have  escaped  the  crowning  sorrow  of  his  life,  had  he  now 
fully  forgiven  his  impulsive  and  ambitious  son  instead  of  leaving 
him  to  brood  longer  in  solitude,  exposed  to  the  deterioration  of 


II   SAMUEL   14.25-31.     ZC  261 

[Z]  Now  in  all  Israel  there  was  none  to  be  so  much  25 
praised  as  Absalom  for  his  beauty  :  from  the  sole  of  his 
foot  even  to  the  crown  of  his  head  there  was  no  blemish 
in  him.     And  when  he  polled  his  head,  (now  it  was  at  26 
every  year's  end  that  he  polled  it :  because  the  hair  was 
heavy  on  him,  therefore  he  polled  it :)  he  weighed  the 
hair  of  his  head  at  two  hundred  shekels,  after  the  king's 
weight.     And  unto  Absalom  there  were  born  three  sons,  27 
and  one  daughter,  whose  name  was  Tamar ;  she  was  a 
woman  of  a  fair  countenance. 

[C]  And  Absalom  dwelt  two  full  years  in  Jerusalem ;  28 
and  he  saw  not  the  king's  face.     Then  Absalom  sent  for  29 
Joab,  to  send  him  to  the  king ;  but  he  would  not  come 
to  him :  and  he  sent  again  a  second  time,  but  he  would 
not  come.     Therefore  he  said  unto  his  servants.   See,  30 
Joab's  field  is  near  mine,  and  he  hath  barley  there ;  go 
and  set  it  on  fire.     And  Absalom's  servants  set  the  field 
on  fire.     Then  Joab  arose,  and  came  to  Absalom  unto  31 
his   house,   and   said   unto   him.   Wherefore    have   thy 

character  which   such   unexpected   treatment  would    inevitably 
produce. 

25-27.  A  paragraph  of  later  date  eulogizing  Absalom's  personal 
beauty,  and  giving  information  regarding  his  family  which  can 
scarcely  be  reconciled  with  the  data  of  the  older  narrative  (xviii.  18). 

26.  two  htindred  sliekels,  after  the  king's  weigrht.  This 
unique  expression  seems  to  be  modelled  on  the  legends  on  Assyrian 
weights,  and  is  now  generally  regarded  as  an  indication  of  the 
origin  of  the  paragraph  in  the  post-exilic  period,  the  king*  in 
question  bei.xg  the  Persian  over-lord.  The  weight  here  given  has 
been  estimated  by  the  present  writer  at  3^  lb.  avoirdupois  (Hastings' 
DB.  iv.  904*). 

27.  With  the  statements  of  this  verse  cf.  xviii.  18  (which  see) 
and  I  Kings  xv.  2. 

xiv.  28-33.    The  final  reconciliation  of  David  and  Absalom. 

29.  Joab's  refusal  to  obey  the  prince's  summons  shows  that  his 
intervention  two  years  before  was  due  to  consideration  for  the 
father,  and  not  to  a  desire  to  stand  well  with  the  sou. 


262  II  SAMUEL  14.  32—15.  2.     C 

32  servants  set  my  field  on  fire?  And  Absalom  answered 
Joab,  Behold,  I  sent  unto  thee,  saying,  Come  hither,  that 
I  may  send  thee  to  the  king,  to  say,  Wherefore  am  I 
come  from  Geshur  ?  it  were  better  for  me  to  be  there 
still :   now  therefore  let  me  see  the  king's  face  ;    and  if 

33  there  be  iniquity  in  me,  let  him  kill  me.  So  Joab  came 
to  the  king,  and  told  him  :  and  when  he  had  called  for 
Absalom,  he  came  to  the  king,  and  bowed  himself  on 
his  face  to  the  ground  before  the  king  :  and  the  king 
kissed  Absalom. 

15  And  it  came  to  pass  after  this,  that  Absalom  prepared 
him  a  chariot  and  horses,  and  fifty  men  to  run  before 
2  him.  And  Absalom  rose  up  early,  and  stood  beside  the 
way  of  the  gate  :  and  it  was  so,  that  when  any  man  had 
a  suit  which  should  come  to  the  king  for  judgement, 
then  Absalom  called  unto  him,  and  said.  Of  what  city 
art  thou?    And  he  said,  Thy  servant  is  of  one  of  the 

33.  Absalom's  desperate  plan  for  securing  an  interview  with 
the  all-powerful  minister  is  successful.  So,  too,  is  his  crave 
for  a  full  pardon,  of  which  his  father's  kiss  is  the  token  and 
pledge. 

D.    2  Sam.  xv-xix.    T/ic  Story  of  Absalom''  s  Rebellion. 

Five  well-marked  stages  are  traceable  in  this  narrative  of 
Absalom's  ill-fated  attempt  to  usurp  the  throne,  viz.  {a)  xv.  1-12, 
the  antecedents  and  outbreak  of  the  revolt ;  (6)  xv.  13 — xvi.  14, 
David  retires  from  the  capital  to  the  east  of  the  Jordan ;  (c)  xvi. 
15 — xvii.  19,  Absalom's  occupation  of  Jerusalem  and  other  inci- 
dents ;  {d)  xviii.  i — xix.  8%  Absalom's  death  and  David's  grief;  {e) 
xix.  8'-43,  David's  return  to  Jerusalem. 

(a)  XV.  I-I2.    The  antecedents  and  outbreak  of  the  revolt. 

1.  Some  time  after  his  restoration  to  favour — how  long  after  is 
not  stated — Absalom  assumes  the  state  belonging  to  the  successor 
to  the  throne.  A  chariot,  horses,  and  runners  were  marks  of 
royalty  (i  Sam.  viii.  11).  Cf.  Adonijah's  similar  pretensions, 
I  Kings  i.  5. 

2-7.  Absalom  next  lays  himself  out  to  curry  favour  with  the 
people  by  employing  the  usual  arts  of  the  popularity-hunter  and 
demagogue. 


II   SAMUEL  15.  3-IO.     C  263 

tribes  of  Israel.     And  Absalom  said  unto  him,  See,  thy  3 
matters  are  good  and  right ;  but  there  is  no  man  deputed 
of  the  king  to  hear  thee.     Absalom  said  moreover,  Oh  4 
that   I  were  made  judge  in  the   land,  that  every  man 
which  hath  any  suit  or  cause  might  come  unto  me,  and 
I  would  do  him  justice  !    And  it  was  so,  that  when  any  5 
man  came  nigh  to  do  him  obeisance,  he  put  forth  his 
hand,  and  took  hold  of  him,  and  kissed  him.     And  on  6 
this  manner  did  Absalom  to  all  Israel  that  came  to  the 
king  for  judgement ;  so  Absalom  stole  the  hearts  of  the 
men  of  Israel. 

And  it  came  to  pass  at  the  end  of  forty  years,  that  7 
Absalom  said  unto  the  king,  I  pray  thee,  let  me  go  and 
pay  my  vow,  which  I  have  vowed  unto   the  Lord,  in 
Hebron.     For  thy  servant  vowed  a  vow  while  I  abode  8 
at  Geshur  in  Syria,  saying,  If  the  Lord   shall  indeed 
bring  me  again  to  Jerusalem,  then  I  will  serve  the  Lord. 
And  the  king  said  unto  him,  Go  in  peace.     So  he  arose,  9 
and  went  to  Hebron.     But  Absalom  sent  spies  through-  10 


6.  stole  the  hearts  of  the  men  of  Israel.  This  expression 
does  not  mean  that  Absalom  captivated  the  affections  of  his 
father's  subjects,  but  that  he  duped  or  befooled  them  as  Jacob 
duped  Laban  (Gen.  xxxi.  20,  26,  where  the  same  expression  is 
used).  The  heart  in  Hebrew  psychology  was  the  seat  of  intellect 
and  conscience  rather  than  of  feeling. 

7  ff.  Absalom  raises  the  standard  of  revolt  at  Hebron,  whither 
he  had  gone  under  pretext  of  a  vow  made  while  he  was  in  exile. 
In  reality  he  bad  probably  discovered  that  the  ancient  city  of 
Hebron  still  bore  David  a  grudge  for  removing  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment to  Jerusalem,  and  that  the  allied  clans  of  the  Negeb,  through 
whose  good  offices  David  had  first  mounted  the  throne,  were 
jealous  of  the  power  and  influence  with  the  king  of  the  northern 
tribes,  now  'the  predominant  partner'  in  the  united  kingdom. 

forty  years:   a  clerical  error  for  'four'  (Lucian,  &c.),  to  be 
reckoned  probably  from  the  date  of  the  final  reconciliation. 

10.  sent  spies:  rather,  'sent  secret  messengers.'  A  good  deal 
must  be  read  between  the  lines  here.     The  seeds  of  disaflection 


264  II   SAMUEL  15.  11-14.     C 

out  all  the  tribes  of  Israel,  saying,  As  soon  as  ye  hear 
the  sound  of  the  trumpet,  then  ye  shall  say,  Absalom  is 

11  king  in  Hebron.  And  with  Absalom  went  two  hundred 
men  out  of  Jerusalem,  that  were  invited,  and  went  in 

1 2  their  simplicity ;  and  they  knew  not  any  thing.  And 
Absalom  sent  for  Ahithophel  the  Gilonite,  David's 
counsellor,  from  his  city,  even  from  Giloh,  while  he 
offered  the  sacrifices.  And  the  conspiracy  was  strong  3 
for  the  people  increased  continually  with  Absalom. 

13  And  there  came  a  messenger  to  David,  saying,  The 

14  hearts  of  the  men  of  Israel  are  after  Absalom.  And 
David  said  unto  all  his  servants  that  were  with  him  at 
Jerusalem,  Arise,  and  let  us  flee;    for  else  none  of  us 

had   been   sedulously  sown  by  Absalom   in  the  preceding   four 
years,  and  now  he  hoped  to  reap  the  crop. 

12.  AMtliopliel  the  Gilonite  :  or  native  of  Giloh,  probably /a/a, 
six  or  seven  miles  north-west  of  Hebron.  Ahithophel  was  the 
grandfather  of  Bath-sheba  (see  on  xi,  3),  and  his  espousal  of 
Absalom's  cause  is  usually  attributed  to  a  desire  to  avenge  the 
disgrace  in  which  David  had  involved  his  family,  as  well  as  the 
murder  of  Uriah. 

while  he  offered  the  sacrifices,  which  accompanied  the 
coronation  ceremony  (i  Sam.  xi.  15).  By  whom  Absalom  was 
anointed  (see  xix.  10)  is  not  stated. 

(b)  XV.  13 — xvi.  14.  David  retires  from  the  capital  to  the  east  of  the 
Jordan. 

David  is  evidently  taken  completely  by  surprise.  The  reasons 
for  his  hasty  resolution  to  leave  his  fortified  capital  are  not  clear 
from  the  narrative  before  us.  Had  he  grounds  for  suspecting  the 
loyalty  of  the  population,  perhaps  still  predominantly  Jebusite  ? 
Of  no  single  day  in  the  whole  course  of  the  recorded  history 
of  the  Hebrews  have  we  so  detailed  a  record  as  we  have  of  the 
day  on  which  David  fled  before  his  undutiful  son.  From  the  time 
when,  in  the  morning  hours,  he  passed  in  haste  through  the 
eastern  gate  until,  before  the  next  day  had  dawned  (xvii.  2a),  he 
and  all  his  following  had  safely  crossed  the  Jordan,  every  hour  is 
crowded  with  life  and  incident,  and  every  line  of  the  narrative  is 
instinct  with  the  emotions  and  impulses,  good  and  bad,  that  mould 
the  lives  of  men. 

14.  all  his  servants :  here,  and  elsewhere  in  this  narrative,  the 
chief  officers  of  the  court. 


II  SAMUEL  15.  i5-'o.     C  265 

shall  escape  from  Absalom  :  make  speed  to  depart,  lest 
he  overtake  us  quickly,  and  bring  down  evil  upon  us, 
and  smite  the  city  with  the  edge  of  the  sword.     And  the  15 
king's  servants  said  unto  the  king,  Behold,  thy  servants 
are  ready  to  do  whatsoever  my  lord  the  king  shall  choose. 
And  the  king  went  forth,  and  all  his  household  after  him.  16 
And  the  king  left  ten  women,  which  were  concubines,  to 
keep  the  house.     And  the  king  went  forth,  and  all  the  17 
people  after   him ;    and   they   tarried   in   Beth-merhak. 
And  all  his  servants  passed  on  beside  him ;  and  all  the  18 
Cherethites^  and  all  the  Pelethites,  and  all  the  Gittites, 
six  hundred  men   which    came   after   him   from   Gath, 
passed  on  before  the  king.     Then  said  the  king  to  Ittai  19 
the  Gittite,  Wherefore  goest  thou  also  with  us  ?    return, 
and  abide  with  the  king  :    for  thou  art  a  stranger,  and 
also  an  exile ;  return  to  thine  own  place.     Whereas  thou  20 

17  if.  The  difficulties  of  these  verses  have  been  solved  in  large 
measure  by  Wellhausen  {Text  der  Biicher  Saniiielis)  with  the  help 
of  the  LXX.  (i)  The  words  all  the  people  of  verse  17  and  all 
his  servants  of  verse  18  must  change  places  (so  LXX)  ;  (2)  for 
in  Beth-merhak  {lit,  •  the  house  of  distance,'  hence  R.  V.  marg.  '  at 
the  Far  House ')  read  '  at  the  last  house,'  viz.  on  the  eastern  face  of 
the  ridge  of  Zion,  above  the  Kidron  (verse  23).  In  verse  17, 
therefore,  David  and  his  suite  pass  out  first  and  halt  at  the  last 
house  above  the  Kidron.  In  verse  18  'all  the  people'  (transferred 
from  verse  17),  i.  e.  the  rank  and  file  of  the  loyal  troops,  camp- 
followers,  &c.,  march  past  the  king,  followed  by  the  royal  body- 
guard, now  strengthened  by  six  hundred  men  from  Gath.  For 
and  all  the  Gittites,  &c.,  we  should  probably  read  :  '  and  the  men 
of  Ittai  the  Gittite  [of  whom  verse  19  leads  us  to  expect  some 
mention  here],  six  hundred  men,'  &c, 

19.  The  fidelity  of  this  foreign  soldier  to  David  stands  in  vivid 
contrast  to  the  treachery  of  David's  son.  He  may  have  been  an 
exile  for  political  reasons  from  his  native  Gath,  or  merely  a  soldier 
of  fortune.  His  military  capacity  is  shown  by  his  being  put  in 
command  of  a  division  of  David's  army  (xviii.  2). 

ahide  with  the  king :  Absalom  is  of  course  intended. 

an  exile  ...  to  thine  own  place :  a  copyist's  slip  for  '  an 
exile  from  thine  own  place '  (LXX). 


266  II  SAMUEL  15.  21-24.     C 

earnest  but  yesterday,  should  I  this  day  make  thee  go  up 
and  down  with  us,  seeing  I  go  whither  I  may  ?  return 
thou,  and  take  back  thy  brethren ;  mercy  and  truth  be 

21  with  thee.  And  Ittai  answered  the  king,  and  said,  As 
the  Lord  Hveth,  and  as  my  lord  the  king  liveth,  surely 
in  what  place  my  lord  the  king  shall  be,  whether  for 
death  or  for  life,  even  there   also  will  thy   servant  be. 

3  2  And  David  said  to  Ittai,  Go  and  pass  over.  And  Ittai 
the  Gittite  passed  over,  and  all  his  men,  and  all  the  little 

23  ones  that  were  with  him.  And  all  the  country  wept 
with  a  loud  voice,  and  all  the  people  passed  over  :  the 
king  also  himself  passed  over  the  brook  Kidron,  and  all 
the  people  passed  over,  toward  the  way  of  the  wilderness. 

24  And,  lo,  Zadok  also  came^  and  all  the  Levites  with  him, 

20.  Render;  'Yesterday  was  thy  coming,  and  to-day  shall  I 
make  thee,'  &c.  At  the  end  three  words  have  been  dropped  from 
the  Hebrew  text.  Read,  with  LXX :  *  return  thou  and  take 
back  thy  brethren  with  thee,  and  Yahweh  shew  unto  thee  mercy 
and  truth.' 

21.  Ittai's  reply,  which  is  not  unworthy  to  stand  beside 
Ruth  i.  16  f.,  is  not  only  honourable  to  himself,  but  is  also  a  striking 
illustration  of  the  magnetism  which  David  still  exercised  over  those 
that  came  into  contact  with  him.  Ittai's  name  will  ever  remain 
a  synonym  for  gratitude  to  a  personal  benefactor,  and  for  un- 
selfish devotion  to  a  losing  cause,  for  such  David's  cause  must 
have  seemed  at  this  critical  juncture. 

XV.  23-29.     David  refuses  to  take  the  Ark  with  him. 

23.  The  text  is  once  more  in  disorder.  Following  Wellhausen 
and  most  recent  critics,  we  get :  '  and  all  the  land  wept  with 
a  loud  voice  as  they  passed  over  ;  but  the  king  (still)  stood  in  the 
valley  of  the  Kidron,  while  all  the  people  passed  over  before  him 
in  the  direction  of  the  olive-tree  which  is  in  the  wilderness '  (so 
Lucian).  The  route  lay  across  the  Kidron,  up  the  face  of  the  Mount 
of  Olives  (verse  30),  and  over  its  summit  (verse  32)  by  the  then 
usual  road  to  the  Jordan,  which  must  have  passed  a  conspicuous 
tree  near  the  spot  where  the  uncultivated  land  began. 

24.  The  narrator  now  supplements  his  former  general  state- 
ment in  verse  17  (emended  text),  that  David  and  his  chief  oflScers 
halted  at  the  Far  House  beside  the  Kidron,  by   the  fact  that 


II  SAMUEL  lo.  25-37.     C  267 

bearing  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  God ;  and  they  set 
down  the  ark  of  God,  and  Abiathar  went  up,  until  all 
the  people  had  done  passing  out  of  the  city.     And  the  25 
king  said  unto  Zadok,  Carry  back  the  ark  of  God  into 
the  city  :  if  I  shall  find  favour  in  the  eyes  of  the  Lord, 
he  will  bring  me  again,  and  shew  me  both  it,  and  his 
habitation  :   but  if  he  say  thus,   I  have   no   delight  in  26 
thee ;  behold,  here  am  I,  let  him  do  to  me  as  seemeth 
good  unto  him.     The  king  said  also  unto   Zadok   the  27 
priest,  Art  thou  not  a  seer?  return  into  the  city  in  peace, 

among  these  officers,  as  we  should  expect  (see  the  entry  xx.  25), 
were  Zadok  and  Abiathar,  the  two  priests  with  the  Ark  of  God. 
The  text  has  been  tampered  with  by  later  editors,  in  the  interests 
of  Zadok,  the  founder  of  the  later  priestly  caste.  The  introduction 
of  the  Levites  also  is  an  anachronism  in  the  Books  of  Samuel  (see 
on  I  Sam.  vi.  15).  Read  somewhat  as  follows:  'And  with  him 
were  Zadok  and  Abiathar  bearing  the  Ark  of  God,  and  they  set 
down  the  Ark  of  God  until  all  the  people,'  &c.  That  the  Ark 
should  accompany  the  king  and  his  troops  was  regarded  by  its 
custodians  as  a  matter  of  course,  for  its  presence  was  the  presence 
of  Yahweh  and  the  pledge  of  victory  (cf.  i  Sam.  iv.  sff.). 

25  f.  It  is  almost  certain  that  in  the  original  text  both  priests 
were  addressed  throughout  (note  the  plurals  in  27^^,  28).  The 
decision  taken  by  David  to  restore  the  Ark  '  to  its  place ' — so  ex- 
pressly Lucian  here — has  been  well  characterized  by  Cheyne  as 
*  probably  a  turning-point  in  Israel's,  as  well  as  in  David's, 
religious  development '  {EBi.  i.  col.  305).  This  decision  was  due  to 
scruples  of  conscience  on  the  king's  part,  lest  by  taking  the  Ark 
with  him  he  might  appear  as  presuming  to  force  the  hand  of 
Yahweh  and  so  provoke  the  Divine  anger.  It  may  be,  so  David 
argues,  that  he  has  proved  himself  unworthy  of  the  great  trust 
which  God  had  committed  to  him,  in  which  case  he  leaves  himself 
with  splendid  resignation  in  the  hand  of  God  (verse  26).  Whereas, 
should  this  crisis  prove  but  a  passing  trial,  God  will  send  him  aid 
from  his  habitation  on  Mount  Zion  as  effectively  as  if  He  were 
present  in  the  Ark  on  the  field  of  battle  (see  further,  the  note  in 
the  Appendix). 

27.  Art  thou  not  a  seer?  But  a  priest  is  never  called  a  seer, 
and  the  introduction  of  *  not '  cannot  be  justified.  Render,  with 
R.V.  marg.,  'seest  thou,'  or  better  still,  taking  the  words  as 
addressed  to  both  priests,  as  the  LXX  reads  and  the  sequel 
demands  :  '  See  now,  return  ye  to  the  city  in  peace.' 


268  II   SAMUEL  15.  28-33.     C 

and   your   two   sons   with   you,  Ahimaaz   thy   son,  and 

28  Jonathan  the  son  of  Abiathar.  See,  I  will  tarry  at  the 
fords  of  the  wilderness,  until  there  come  word  from  you 

29  to  certify  me.  Zadok  therefore  and  Abiathar  carried  the 
ark  of  God  again  to  Jerusalem  :  and  they  abode  there. 

30  And  David  went  up  by  the  ascent  of  the  mount  of 
Olives,  and  wept  as  he  went  up ;  and  he  had  his  head 
covered,  and  went  barefoot :  and  all  the  people  that  were 
with  him  covered  every  man  his  head,  and  they  went  up, 

31  weeping  as  they  went  up.  And  one  told  David,  saying, 
Ahithophel  is  among  the  conspirators  with  Absalom. 
And  David  said,  O  Lord,  I  pray  thee,  turn  the  counsel 

32  of  Ahithophel  into  fooHshness.  And  it  came  to  pass,  that 
when  David  was  come  to  the  top  of  the  ascent^  where  God 
was  worshipped,  behold,  Hushai  the  Archite  came  to 
meet  him  with  his  coat  rent,  and  earth  upon  his  head  : 

33  and  David  said  unto  him,  If  thou  passest  on  with  me, 

28.  at  the  fords  of  the  wilderness  :  these  in  all  probability 
are  the  two  fords,  Mahadat  el-Hajlah  and  Mahadai  el-Henu,  four 
and  three  miles  respectively  from  the  mouth  of  the  Jordan. 

XV.  30-37.  Hushai  is  engaged  by  David  to  oppose  the  counsel  of 
Ahithophel. 

30.  The  entire  cavalcade  having  now  passed  the  king,  the 
latter  follows  by  the  road  described  above,  with  covered  head 
(Jer.  xiv.  3)  and  bare  feet  (Ezek.  xxiv.  17)  in  token  of  mourning. 

32.  the  top  .  .  .  where  God  was  worshipped.  On  the  summit 
of  the  Mount  of  Olives  stood  the  usual  sanctuary  or  high  place  (see 
on  I  Sam.  ix.  12).  In  N.  T.  times  the  road  to  Jericho  and  the 
Jordan  valley  passed  over  the  southern  shoulder  of  the  hill  by 
way  of  Bethany. 

Hushai  the  Archite:  *  the  border  of  the  Archites'  lay  between 
Beth-el  and   Ataroth    (Joshua   xvi.    2,    R.V.).     The   LXX  adds 
David's  friend,'  which  is  to  be  expected  here  where  Hushai  is 
first  introduced  (cf.  verse  37,  and  note  on  xvi.  i6  f.). 

33  ff.  David  unfolds  a  scheme  by  which  Hushai  may  counteract 
the  influence  of  Ahithophel,  and  at  the  same  time  keep  the  king 
informed  of  what  passes  in  the  capital.  Hushai  returns  in  time 
to  welcome  the  arrival  of  Absalom. 


II    SAMUEL  15.  34—16.  3.     C  269 

then  thou  shalt  be  a  burden  unto  me :  but  if  thou  return  34 
to  the  city,  and  say  unto  Absalom,  I  will  be  thy  servant, 
O  king  ;  as  I  have  been  thy  father's  servant  in  time  past, 
so  will  I  now  be  thy  servant :  then  shalt  thou  defeat  for 
me  the  counsel  of  Ahithophel.     And  hast  thou  not  there  35 
with  thee  Zadok  and  Abiathar  the  priests?  therefore  it 
shall  be,  that  what  thing  soever  thou  shalt  hear  out  of 
the  king's  house,  thou  shalt  tell  it  to  Zadok  and  Abiathar 
the  priests.      Behold,  they  have  there  with  them  their  36 
two  sons,  Ahimaaz  Zadok's  son,  and  Jonathan  Abiathar's 
son ;    and  by  them  ye  shall  send  unto  me  every  thing 
that  ye  shall  hear.     So  Hushai  David's  friend  came  into  37 
the  city  ;  and  Absalom  came  into  Jerusalem. 

And  when  David  was  a  little  past  the  top  of  the  ascent^  16 
behold,  Ziba  the  servant   of  Mephibosheth   met   him, 
with  a  couple  of  asses   saddled,  and   upon   them   two 
hundred  loaves  of  bread,  and  an  hundred  clusters  of 
raisins,  and  an  hundred  of  summer  fruits,  and  a  bottle  of 
wine.     And  the  king  said  unto  Ziba,  What  meanest  thou  2 
by  these  ?   And  Ziba  said.  The  asses  be  for  the  king's 
household  to  ride  on  ;  and  the  bread  and  summer  fruit 
for  the  young  men  to  eat ;  and  the  wine,  that  such  as 
be  faint  in  the  wilderness  may  drink.     And  the  king  said,  3 
And  where  is  thy  master's  son  ?   And  Ziba  said  unto  the 
king,  Behold,  he  abideth  at  Jerusalem  :  for  he  said,  To- 
day shall  the  house  of  Israel  restore  me  the  kingdom  of 


xvi.  1-4.  David  and  the  crafty  Ziba  (ix.  sflf.),  another  of  those 
personal  interviews  which  are  the  feature  of  this  section. 

1.  Cf.  Abigail's  present,  i  Sam.  xxv.  18.  There  the  figs  were 
dried  and  pressed,  here  they  are  brought  in  their  fresh  state  as 
summer  fruits  CAmos  viii.  i),  showing  that  the  season  was  early 
summer,  probably  the  month  of  June. 

3.  An  ex'pmic  statement,  ahnost  certainly  false  in  view  of  the 
greater  verisimilitude  of  xix.  25  ff. 


270  II   SAMUEL  16.  4-ro.     C 

4  my  father.  Then  said  the  king  to  Ziba,  Behold,  thine  is 
all  that  pertaineth  unto  Mephibosheth.  And  Ziba  said, 
I  do  obeisance ;  let  me  find  favour  in  thy  sight,  my  lord, 
O  king. 

5  And  when  king  David  came  to  Bahurim,  behold,  there 
came  out  thence  a  man  of  the  family  of  the  house  of 
Saul,  whose  name  was  Shimei,  the  son  of  Gera  :  he  came 

6  out,  and  cursed  still  as  he  came.  And  he  cast  stones  at 
David,  and  at  all  the  servants  of  king  David  :  and  all  the 
people  and  all  the  mighty  men  were  on  his  right  hand 

7  and  on  his  left.  And  thus  said  Shimei  when  he  cursed, 
Begone,  begone,  thou  man  of  blood,  and  man  of  Belial : 

8  the  Lord  hath  returned  upon  thee  all  the  blood  of  the 
house  of  Saul,  in  whose  stead  thou  hast  reigned ;  and 
the  Lord  hath  delivered  the  kingdom  into  the  hand  of 
Absalom  thy  son  :   and,  behold,  thou  art  taken  in  thine 

9  own  mischief,  because  thou  art  a  man  of  blood.  Then 
said  Abishai  the  son  of  Zeruiah  unto  the  king.  Why 
should  this  dead  dog  curse  my  lord  the  king  ?  let  me  go 

10  over,  I  pray  thee,  and  take  off  his  head.  And  the  king 
said,  What  have  I  to  do  with  you,  ye  sons  of  Zeruiah  ? 
Because  he  curseth,  and  because  the  Lord  hath  said 


xvi.  5-14.     Shimei  curses  his  king. 

5.  Bahurim  lay,  as  we  learn  here,  on  the  road  leading  to  the 
fords  of  the  Jordan  (see  on  xvii.  20),  within  the  territory  of 
Benjamin.  Shimei's  hostility  to  David  was  doubtless  of  ancient 
date,  since  he  belonged  to  the  same  Benjamite  clan  as  did  the 
family  of  Saul. 

7  f.  thou  man  of  hlood  ...  all  the  blood  of  the  house  of  Saul. 
This  sweeping  charge  need  not  be  confined  to  the  tragedy  of 
ch.  xxi,  which  comes  from  a  different  source  ;  it  is  better  explained 
by  a  reference  to  iii.  i. 

9.  let  me  gfo  over,  &c.  For  a  similar  request  on  the  part  of  this 
Hebrew  Hotspur,  see  i  Sam.  xxvi.  8. 

10.  Because  he  curseth,  &c.  Read  as  in  11'':  'Let  him 
curse  ;  if  the  Lord  hath  said,'  &c.  (so  most  moderns,  cf.  margin). 


II   SAMUEL  16.  T1-16.     C  271 

unto  him,  Curse  David  ;  who  then  shall  say,  Wherefore 
hast  thou  done  so  ?   And  David  said  to  Abishai,  and  to  i  r 
all  his  servants,  Behold,  my  son,  which  came  forth  of  my 
bowels,  seeketh  my  life :    how   much   more   may   this 
Benjamite  now  do  it  ?  let  him  alone,  and  let  him  curse  ; 
for  the  Lord  hath  bidden  him.     It  may  be  that  the  12 
Lord  will  look  on  the  wrong  done  unto  me,  and  that  the 
Lord  will  requite  me  good  for  his  cursing  of  me  this 
day.     So  David  and  his  men  went   by  the  way  :   and  13 
Shimei  went  along  on  the  hill  side  over  against  him,  and 
cursed  as  he  went,  and  threw  stones  at  him,  and  cast 
dust.     And  the  king^  and  all  the  people  that  were  with  14 
him,  came  weary ;  and  he  refreshed  himself  there. 

And  Absalom,  and  all  the  people  the  men  of  Israel^  15 
came  to  Jerusalem,  and  Ahithophel  with  him.  And  it  16 
came  to  pass,  when  Hushai  the  Archite,  David's  friend, 

12.  the  ZiOBD  will  look  on  the  wrongr  done  nnto  me.  Read 
with  the  Versions  and  margin  :  *  the  Lord  will  look  on  mine 
affliction  '  (i  Sam.  i.  11,  ix.  16).  David's  mood  is  still  that  of 
resignation  to  the  Divine  will  (see  on  xv.  25  ff.). 

13.  on  the  hill  side  over  agrainst  him:  rather,  <  on  the  hill 
side  parallel  with  him,'  of  course  higher  up  the  hill. 

14.  The  name  of  the  place  to  which  the  com.pany  oame  weary 
has  fallen  out.  The  Hebrew  word  for  '  weary '  is  put  in  the 
margin  as  a  proper  name,  '  to  Ayephim,'  which  is  very  improbable. 
Lucian  has  *  to  the  Jordan,'  which  may  be  right  (see  on  xvii.  16). 

(c)  xvi,  15 — xvii.  29.  Absalom  occupies  Jerusalem  :  Ahithophel 
and  Hushai y  &c. 

The  historian  now  turns  to  the  duel  between  the  two  counsellors, 
starting  from  the  usurper's  arrival  in  Jerusalem,  which  has  already 
been  mentioned  by  anticipation  (xv.  37% 

15.  Absalom  and  all  the  men  of  Israel :  so  read  with  LXX 
(B),  the  people  having  come  in  from  the  preceding  verse. 
'  Throughout  the  narrative  ''all  the  people  "  are  with  David,  "all 
the  men  of  Israel ''  are  with  Absalom '  (Driver). 

16  f.  Absalom's  play  upon  the  word  friend  suggests  that  the 
designation  David's  friend  was  not  first  given  to  Hushai  by  the 
historian,  but  was  a  court  title.     The   *  king's  friend  '  is  a  title 


272  II   SAMUEL  16.  17-23.     C 

was   come  unto   Absalom,  that  Hushai   said   unto  Ab- 

17  salom,  God  save  the  king,  God  save  the  king.  And 
Absalom  said  to  Hushai,  Is  this  thy   kindness  to  thy 

18  friend  ?  why  wentest  thou  not  with  thy  friend  ?  And 
Hushai  said  unto  Absalom,  Nay ;  but  whom  the  Lord, 
and  this  people,  and  all  the  men  of  Israel  have  chosen, 

19  his  will  I  be,  and  with  him  will  I  abide.  And  again, 
whom  should  I  serve  ?  should  I  not  serve  in  the  presence 
of  his  son  ?  as  I  have  served  in  thy  father's  presence,  so 

20  will   I  be  in   thy   presence.      Then   said   Absalom   to 
31  Ahithophel,  Give  your  counsel  what  we  shall  do.     And 

Ahithophel  said  unto  Absalom,  Go  in  unto  thy  father's 
concubines,  which  he  hath  left  to  keep  the  house ;  and 
all  Israel  shall  hear  that  thou  art  abhorred  of  thy  father : 
then  shall  the  hands  of  all  that  are  with  thee  be  strong. 

22  So  they  spread  Absalom  a  tent  upon  the  top  of  the  house ; 
and  Absalom  went  in  unto  his  father's  concubines  in  the 

23  sight  of  all  Israel.  And  the  counsel  of  Ahithophel, 
which  he  counselled  in  those  days,  was  as  if  a  man 
inquired  at  the  oracle  of  God  :  so  was  all  the  counsel  of 
Ahithophel  both  with  David  and  with  Absalom. 

found  at  the  court  of  Egypt  from  an  early  period,  as  later  among 
the  Ptolemies  (Deissmann,  Bible  Studies,  167  ff.)  and  the  Seleucids 
(i  Mace.  ii.  18,  x.  65).  Similarly,  Zabud  the  son  of  Nathan  was 
'  the  king's  friend '  at  the  court  of  Solomon  (i  Kings  iv.  5). 

18  f.  Hushai  argues  (i)  that  the  vox  Dei  and  the  voxpopuli  have 
united  in  the  choice  of  Absalom,  and  (2)  that  after  all  he  is  merely 
transferring  his  allegiance  from  the  father  to  the  son.  The 
narrator  leaves  us  to  infer  that  Hushai  was  thereupon  admitted 
into  the  inner  circle  of  the  new  court. 

20-23.  On  Ahithophel's  advice  Absalom  takes  over  part  of  his 
father's  harem.  The  crafty  adviser  urges  this  step  on  grounds  of 
public  policy.  It  would  be  a  proof  to  all  Israel  that  the  breach 
between  father  and  son  was  now  beyond  hope  of  healing. 
Absalom's  friends  would  thereby  be  strengthened  in  their  allegiance 
(verse  21,  end),  and  the  waverers  brought  over  to  his  side.  At 
the  same  time  it  would  be  evidence  to  all  and  sundry  that  Absalom 


II   SAMUEL    17.  1-7.     C  273 

Moreover  Ahithophel  said  unto  Absalom,  Let  me  now  17 
choose  out  twelve  thousand  men,  and  I  will  arise  and 
pursue  after  David  this  night :  and  I  will  come  upon  him  a 
while  he  is  weary  and  weak  handed,  and  will  make  him 
afraid  :  and  all  the  people  that  are  with  him  shall  flee ; 
and  I  will  smite  the  king  only :  and  I  will  bring  back  all  3 
the  people  unto  thee  :  the  man  whom  thou  seekest  is  as 
if  all  returned  :  so  all  the  people  shall  be  in  peace.     And  4 
the  saying  pleased  Absalom  well,  and  all  the  elders  of 
Israel. 

Then  said  Absalom,  Call  now  Hushai  the  Archite  also,  5 
and  let   us   hear   likewise  what   he   saith.     And   when  6 
Hushai  was  come  to  Absalom,  Absalom  spake  unto  him, 
saying,  Ahithophel  hath  spoken  after  this  manner  :  shall 
we  do  afie^  his  saying?  if  not,  speak  thou.     And  Hushai  Jr 
said  unto  Absalom,  The  counsel  that  Ahithophel  hath 

was  de  facto  king,  and  was  exercising  his  rights  as  David's  successor 
(see  on  xii.  8). 

xvii.  1-14.     The  duel  between  the  counsellors. 

I.  Ahithophel  begs  to  be  allowed  to  set  out  immediately  in 
pursuit  of  David,  arguing  that  the  death  of  the  latter  is  all  that 
is  required  to  secure  the  undivided  allegiance  of  the  people  to 
Absalom  and  the  re-establishment  of  peace. 

this  nisflit :  the  night  following  the  eventful  day  into  which 
so  much  has  been  already  crowded  (cf.  verse  16). 

3.  The  present  unintelligible  text  has  arisen  from  the  accidental 
omission  of  four  words  still  preserved  in  the  LXX  :  '  and  I  will 
bring  back  all  the  people  unto  thee  as  a  bride  returneth  to  her 
husband  ;  thou  seekest  but  the  life  of  one  man,  and  all  the  people 
shall  be  in  peace.' 

4.  And  the  saying  pleased  Absalom  well :  nothing  could  better 
illustrate  the  depth  of  moral  callousness  to  which  the  misguided 
prince  had  fallen  than  his  approval  of  this  cold-blooded  proposal 
to  take  his  father's  life. 

5-14  give  us  the  contrary  counsel  of  Hushai.  This  life-like 
picture  of  the  divan  of  the  sheikhs — to  give  the  council  of  the 
elders  (verse  4)  its  oriental  designation — with  its  highly  meta- 
phorical and  somewhat  bombastic  rhetoric,  is  painted  in  the  true 
colours  of  the  Semitic  orient. 


274  II   SAMUEL  17.  8-12.     C 

8  given  this  time  is  not  good.  Hushai  said  moreover, 
Thou  knowest  thy  father  and  his  men,  that  they  be 
mighty  men,  and  they  be  chafed  in  their  minds,  as  a 
bear  robbed  of  her  whelps  in  the  field  :  and  thy  father  is 
a  man  of  war,    and   will   not   lodge   with   the   people. 

9  Behold,  he  is  hid  now  in  some  pit,  or  in  some  other 
place  :  and  it  will  come  to  pass^  when  some  of  them  be 
fallen  at  the  first,  that  whosoever  heareth  it  will  say, 
There   is   a   slaughter   among   the    people   that  follow 

10  Absalom.  And  even  he  that  is  vahant,  whose  heart  is 
as  the  heart  of  a  lion,  shall  utterly  melt :  for  all  Israel 
knoweth  that  thy  father  is  a  mighty  man,  and  they  which 

11  be  with  him  are  valiant  men.  But  I  counsel  that  all 
Israel  be  gathered  together  unto  thee,  from  Dan  even  to 
Beer-sheba,  as  the  sand  that  is  by  the  sea  for  multitude ; 

1-2  and  that  thou  go  to  battle  in  thine  own  person.  So 
shall  we  come  upon  him  in  some  place  where  he  shall 


8.  will  not  lodge  with  the  people :  an  obscure  phrase.  If 
the  text  is  right,  it  may  mean  that,  as  a  precaution  against  sur- 
prise, David  would  camp  apart  froni  the  rank  and  file,  surrounded 
by  his  faithful  bodyguard. 

9.  The  second  half  of  the  verse  describes  what  will  happen 
when  the  two  sides  engage.  Read  probably  :  '  when  he  (David) 
falleth  upon  the  people  (R.  V.  marg.),  and  some  of  them  fall  at 
the  first  attack'  (Budde). 

10.  A  panic  among  Absalom's  untrained  levies  would  be  the 
result  of  a  formal  engagement  with  David's  veterans — a  very 
plausible  forecast. 

11.  The  two  points  of  Hushai's  counter-proposal  are  (i)  that 
a  much  larger  force  was  needed  than  Absalom  as  yet  had  at  his 
command,  and  (2)  that  the  new  king's  presence  with  his  troops 
was  indispensable  (contrast  verse  i).  This  latter  argument  was 
an  adroit  appeal  to  the  usurper's  personal  vanity.  The  speaker's 
real  object  was,  of  course,  to  gain  time  for  David  to  mature  his 
plan  of  campaign,  and  to  collect  the  necessary  troops. 

to  battle :  read  with  the  Versions,  *  in  their  midst ' — '  with 
thy  Majesty  \lit.  '■  thy  presence/  see  R.  V.  marg.]  marching  in  the 
midst  of  them'  (H.  P.  Smith). 


II   SAMUEL  17.  13-17.     C  275 

be  found,  and  we  will  light  upon  him  as  the  dew  falleth 
on  the  ground  :  and  of  him  and  of  all  the  men  that  are 
with  him  we  will  not  leave  so  much  as  one.  Moreover,  13 
if  he  be  gotten  into  a  city,  then  shall  all  Israel  bring 
ropes  to  that  city,  and  we  will  draw  it  into  the  river,  until 
there  be  not  one  small  stone  found  there.  And  Absalom  14 
and  all  the  men  of  Israel  said,  The  counsel  of  Hushai 
the  Archite  is  better  than  the  counsel  of  Ahithophel.  For 
the  Lord  had  ordained  to  defeat  the  good  counsel  of 
Ahithophel,  to  the  intent  that  the  Lord  might  bring  evil 
upon  Absalom. 

Then  said  Hushai  unto  Zadok  and  to  Abiathar  the  15 
priests.  Thus  and  thus  did  Ahithophel  counsel  Absalom 
and  the  elders  of  Israel ;  and  thus  and  thus  have  I 
counselled.  Now  therefore  send  quickly,  and  tell  David,  16 
saying,  Lodge  not  this  night  at  the  fords  of  the  wilderness, 
but  in  any  wise  pass  over ;  lest  the  king  be  swallowed 
up,  and  all  the  people  that  are  with  him.     Now  Jonathan  17 

13.  Render,  as  in  the  margin  :  'if  he  withdraw  himself  into 
a  (fortified)  city '  ;  the  whole  is  a  fine  specimen  of  rhetorical 
exaggeration. 

14  b.  The  historian's  comment  on  the  result  of  the  duel,  forming 
the  Hebrew  counterpart  and  illustration  of  the  familiar  maxim, 
Quern  vttlt  perdere  Deus  prhis  dementat. 

xvii.  15-21.     Hushai  communicates  with  David  as  arranged. 

The  reason  for  such  urgency  as  Hushai  recommends,  which 
seems  unnecessary  in  the  altered  circumstances,  was  doubtless 
his  fear  that  Absalom  might  after  all  revert  to  Ahithophel's  pro- 
posal (cf.  verse  21  end).  Hushai's  policy,  like  that  of  the  Bruce's 
friend  Kirkpatrick,  was  to  'mak  siccar.' 

17.  As  compared  with  A.  V.  and  R.  V.  marg.,  the  text  of  R.  V. 
alone  does  justice  to  the  frequentative  tenses  of  the  original. 
These  imply  that  regular  communication  between  David  and 
Hushai  was  kept  up  for  some  time  through  the  priests'  sons  as 
intermediaries.  The  latter,  again,  were  kept  in  touch  with 
Hushai  by  a  slave-girl  as  go-between.  Such  was  the  situation 
while  David  and  Absalom  \\  ere  respectively  collecting  their  forces 

T  2 


276  II   SAMUEL  17.  18-23.     C 

and  Ahimaaz  stayed  by  En-rogel;  and  a  maidservant 
used  to  go  and  tell  them ;  and  they  went  and  told  king 
David :   for  they  might  not  be  seen  to  come  into  the 

18  city.  But  a  lad  saw  them,  and  told  Absalom  :  and  they 
went  both  of  them  away  quickly,  and  came  to  the  house 
of  a  man  in  Bahurim,  who  had  a  well  in  his  court ;  and 

19  they  went  down  thither.  And  the  woman  took  and 
spread  the  covering  over  the  well's  mouth,  and  strewed 

20  bruised  corn  thereon ;  and  nothing  was  known.  And 
Absalom's  servants  came  to  the  woman  to  the  house ;  and 
they  said,  Where  are  Ahimaaz  and  Jonathan  ?  And  the 
woman  said  unto  them,  They  be  gone  over  the  brook  of 
water.     And  when  they  had  sought  and  could  not  find 

21  them,  they  returned  to  Jerusalem.  And  it  came  to  pass, 
after  they  were  departed,  that  they  came  up  out  of  the 
well,  and  went  and  told  king  David ;  and  they  said  unto 
David,  Arise  ye,  and  pass  quickly  over  the  water :  for 

22  thus  hath  Ahithophel  counselled  against  you.  Then 
David  arose,  and  all  the  people  that  were  with  him, 
and  they  passed  over  Jordan  :  by  the  morning  light 
there  lacked  not  one  of  them  that  was  not  gone  over 

23  Jordan.  And  when  Ahithophel  saw  that  his  counsel  was 
not  followed,  he  saddled  his  ass,  and  arose,  and  gat  him 

on  either  side  of  the  Jordan.  Verses  18  fF.  tell  of  a  particular 
incident  of  the  situation  sketched  above. 

stayed  "by  En-rogel:  'the  fuller's  spring,'  now  usually 
identified  with  the  modern  Bir  Eyyub  (Job's  well),  at  the  south- 
east of  Jerusalem,  where  the  valley  of  Hinnom  joins  the  valley  of 
the  Kidron. 

20.  the  Ijrook  of  water :  the  first  word  is  extremely  doubtful 
(see  Driver,  in  loc).  Budde  would  read:  'they  be  gone  hur- 
riedly (so  Vulgate,  festinanter)  over  the  water,'  i.e.  the  Jordan,  as 
in  verse  21.  This  helps  us  to  locate  Bahurim  as  at  no  great  dis- 
tance from  the  river,  probably  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Beth-hoglah 
(see  on  xix.  15  f.). 

23.  Deeply  chagrined  at  the  failure  of  his  scheme,  in  which 


II   SAMUEL  17.  24-29.     C  277 

home,  unto  his  city,  and  set  his  house  in  order,  and 
hanged  himself;  and  he  died,  and  was  buried  in  the 
sepulchre  of  his  father. 

Then  David  came  to  Mahanaim.    And  Absalom  passed  24 
over  Jordan,  he  and  all  the  men  of  Israel  with   him. 
And  Absalom  set  Amasa  over  the  host  instead  of  Joab.  25 
Now  Amasa  was  the  son  of  a  man,  whose  name  was 
Ithra  the  Israelite,  that  went  in  to  Abigal  the  daughter 
of  Nahash,  sister  to  Zeruiah  Joab's  mother.     And  Israel  26 
and  Absalom  pitched  in  the  land  of  Gilead. 

And  it  came  to  pass,  when  David  was  come  to  27 
Mahanaim,  that  Shobi  the  son  of  Nahash  of  Rabbah  of 
the  children  of  Ammon,  and  Machir  the  son  of  Ammiel 
of  Lo-debar,  and  Barzillai  the  Gileadite  of  Rogelim, 
brought  beds,  and  basons,  and  earthen  vessels,  and  28 
wheat,  and  barley,  and  meal,  and  parched  corti^  and 
beans,  and  lentils,  and  parched  pulse^  and  honey,  and  29 

private  revenge  doubtless  played  a  leading  motive  (see  on  xv.  12), 
and  at  being  superseded  in  Absalom's  confidence  by  his  rival, 
Ahithophel  dies  by  his  own  hand,  a  victim  of  wounded  pride  and 
disappointed  ambition. 

24  ff.  David  proceeds  to  Mahanaim  (see  on  ii.  8),  which  he 
makes  his  head  quarters.  Absalom  follows  in  due  course  with 
Amasa  in  command  of  his  levies.  The  latter  is  now  curiously 
described  as  the  son  of  Ithra  the  Israelite.  Since  only 
foreigners  like  Uriah  and  Ittai  are  designated  in  this  way  by  their 
nationality,  the  Chronicler's  reading  is  to  be  preferred  (see 
margin),  viz. :  *  the  son  of  Jether  the  Ishmaelite.'  Through  his 
mother  Abigail  (so  read)  he  was  a  full  cousin  of  Absalom  and 
Joab,  and,  like  the  latter,  a  nephew  of  David  (see  i  Chron.  ii.  15  ff.). 

27.  Shobi  the  son  of  Nahash  :  now  apparently  governor  of 
the  Ammonites,  in  room  of  his  brother  Hanun,  the  late  king. 
For  Machir  see  on  ix.  4. 

Barzillai  the  Gileadite  of  Bog'elim  is  more  fully  described 
xix.  32  f.  His  home  has  not  been  identified,  but  his  name  shows 
that  it  must  have  lain  in  the  Aramaic-speaking  tract  to  the  north- 
east. 

28.  parched  pulse  ;  an  unheard-of  food-stuff,  and  another  of 
the  too  numerous  illustrations  of  the  Revisers'  bondage  to  the 


278  II   SAMUEL  18.  1-5.     C 

butter,  and  sheep,  and  cheese  of  kine,  for  David,  and  for 
the  people  that  were  with  him,  to  eat ;  for  they  said, 
The  people  is  hungry,  and  weary,  and  thirsty,  in  the 
wilderness. 
18  And  David  numbered  the  people  that  were  with  him, 
and  set  captains  of  thousands  and  captains  of  hundreds 

2  over  them.  And  David  sent  forth  the  people,  a  third 
part  under  the  hand  of  Joab,  and  a  third  part  under  the 
hand  of  Abishai  the  son  of  Zeruiah,  Joab's  brother,  and  a 
third  part  under  the  hand  of  Ittai  the  Gittite.  And  the 
king  said  unto  the  people,  I  will  surely  go  forth  with  you 

3  myself  also.  But  the  people  said,  Thou  shalt  not  go 
forth  :  for  if  we  flee  away,  they  will  not  care  for  us ; 
neither  if  half  of  us  die,  will  they  care  for  us :  but  thou 
art  worth  ten  thousand  of  us :  therefore  now  it  is  better 

4  that  thou  be  ready  to  succour  us  out  of  the  city.  And 
the  king  said  unto  them.  What  seemeth  you  best  I  will 
do.     And  the  king  stood  by  the  gate  side,  and  all  the 

5  people  went  out  by  hundreds  and  by  thousands.  And 
the  king  commanded  Joab  and  Abishai  and  Ittai,  saying, 
Deal  gently  for  my  sake  with  the  young  man,  even  with 

received  text.     The  word  means  only  '  parched  corn '  (i  Sam. 
xvii.  17),  and  has  simply  crept  in  from  the  line  above. 

29.  cheese  of  kine :  a  doubtful  rendering  of  a  doubtful  text. 
Probably  'dried  curds'  is  meant  (see  the  writer's  article  'Milk,' 
EBi.  iii.  3091) ;  the  text  may  originally  have  read  'and  sheep' — 
or  rather  '  flocks/  for  the  word  includes  goats  as  well — 'and  cattle 
and  dried  curds.' 

(d)  xviii.  I — xix.  8.     Absalom'' s  death  and  David's  grief. 

2.  And  David  sent  forth  the  people:  read  with  Lucian  : 
'  and  David  divided  the  people  (i.  e.  his  forces,  see  Driver  as 
quoted  on  xvi.  15)  into  three  parts.'  The  tactics  are  the  same  as 
those  emploj^ed  by  Saul  against  the  Ammonites  (i  Sam.  xi.  ii), 
with  the  addition  of  a  body  of  reserves  in  Mahanaim  under  the 
king's  personal  command  (verse  3  end). 

4.  A  *  march  past '  in  more  hopeful  circumstances  than  on 
a  former  occasion,  xv.  170", 


II    SAMUEL  18.  6-10.     C  279 

Absalom.     And  all  the  people  heard  when  the  king  gave 
all  the  captains  charge  concerning  Absalom.     So   the  6 
people  went  out  into  the  field  against  Israel :  and  the 
battle  was  in  the  forest  of  Ephraim.     And  the  people  of  7 
Israel  were  smitten  there  before  the  servants  of  David, 
and  there  was  a  great  slaughter  there  that  day  of  twenty 
thousand  men.     For  the  battle  was  there  spread  over  g 
the  face  of  all  the  country :   and  the  forest  devoured 
more  people  that  day  than  the  sword  devoured.     And  9 
Absalom  chanced  to  meet  the  servants  of  David.     And 
iVbsalom  rode  upon  his  mule,  and  the  mule  went  under 
the  thick  boughs  of  a  great  oak,  and  his  head  caught 
hold  of  the  oak,  and   he  was   taken   up  between  the 
heaven  and  the  earth ;  and  the  mule  that  was  under  him 
went  on.     And  a  certain  man  saw  it,  and  told  Joab,  and  10 

5.  Deal  gfently  for  my  sake  .  .  .  with  Absalom.  It  is  pathetic 
to  observe  how,  throughout  this  day  in  which  the  gravest  inter- 
ests were  at  stake,  David  has  not  only  no  thought  for  himself — 
this  we  could  excuse — but  none  for  his  loyal  troops  or  for  the 
future  of  his  country  (see  xix.  $&.),  but  only  for  the  son,  'the  lad 
Absalom '  (verses  5,  12,  29,  32).  who  had  cast  every  vestige  of 
filial  affection  to  the  winds  (cf.  on  xvii.  4). 

6.  the  forest  of  Ephraim  :  rather,  *  the  jungle  of  Ephraim,'  an 
unknown  locality  in  Gilead.  Cf.  G.  A.  Smith,  Hist.  Geog. 
335  note. 

8.  and  the  forest  devoured,  &c.:  the  sense  is  uncertain. 
Probably  the  district  over  which  the  rout  extended  presented 
a  rocky  surface — 'a  sea  of  rocks'  is  Wetzstein's  phrase — covered 
with  jungle  growth  which  concealed  the  clefts  between  the  rocks 
into  which  the  fugitives  dropped  and  perished. 

xviii.  9-18.      The  fate  of  Absalom. 

9.  his  head  caught  hold  of  the  oak,  &c. :  rather,  '  was  caught 
fast  in  the  oak,  and  he  was  suspended,'  &c.  The  popular  idea 
that  Absalom  owed  his  death  to  the  long  hair  (xiv.  26),  of  which 
he  is  supposed  to  have  been  unduly  proud,  ma}'  suit  the  requirements 
of  poetic  justice,  but  finds  no  support  in  the  narrative  before  us. 
Rather  we  must  suppose  that,  as  he  rode  at  full  speed  upon  his 
mule,  his  head  got  wedged  into  the  fork  of  a  branch  and  was 
there  held  fast  'in  the  heart  of  the  oak'  (verse  14). 


28o  II   SAMUEL  18.  11-17.     C 

11  said,  Behold,  I  saw  Absalom  hanging  in  an  oak.  And 
Joab  said  unto  the  man  that  told  him.  And,  behold,  thou 
sawest  it,  and  why  didst  thou  not  smite  him  there  to  the 
ground  ?  and  I  would  have  given  thee  ten  pieces  of  silver, 

12  and  a  girdle.  And  the  man  said  unto  Joab,  Though  I 
should  receive  a  thousand  pieces  of  silver  in  mine  hand, 
yet  would  I  not  put  forth  mine  hand  against  the  king's 
son :  for  in  our  hearing  the  king  charged  thee  and 
Abishai  and  Ittai,  saying,  Beware  that  none  touch  the 

13  young  man  Absalom.  Otherwise  if  I  had  dealt  falsely 
against  his  life,  (and  there  is  no  matter  hid  from  the 
king,)   then   thou   thyself   wouldest    have   stood   aloof. 

14  Then  said  Joab,  I  may  not  tarry  thus  with  thee.  And 
he  took  three  darts  in  his  hand,  and  thrust  them  through 
the  heart  of  Absalom,  while  he  was  yet  alive  in  the  midst 

15  of  the  oak.  And  ten  young  men  that  bare  Joab's  armour 
compassed  about  and  smote  Absalom,  and  slew  him. 

16  And  Joab  blew  the  trumpet,  and  the  people  returned 
from   pursuing   after   Israel :    for  Joab   held   back   the 

17  people.     And  they  took  Absalom,  and  cast  him  into  the 

11.  ten  pieces  of  silver :  ten  shekels  (see  on  i  Sam.  ix.  8),  as 
in  A.  v.,  which  is  here  needlessly  altered. 

12.  Beware,  &c.  A  better  rendering  of  the  difficult  original 
is  that  of  the  margin,  but  we  should  probably  read  with  the 
Versions :  '  Have  a  care  for  my  sake  (as  in  verse  5)  of  the  young 
man,  even  of  Absalom.' 

13  f.  thou  wouldest  liave  stood  aloof.  Joab,  the  soldier  says, 
would  not  have  lifted  a  finger  to  save  him  from  David's  wrath. 
Joab  refuses  to  argue  the  matter,  and  with  his  own  hand  stabs 
Absalom  through  the  heart. 

15.  A  somewhat  better  connexion  is  got  by  taking  the  last 
clause  of  verse  14  with  this  verse  (so  Vulgate)  :  '  and  while  he 
was  yet  alive  .  .  .  ten  young  men,'  &c.  However  richly 
Absalom  deserved  his  fate,  nothing  can  free  Joab  from  the  charge 
of  flagrant  disobedience  of  his  king's  express  command,  of  which, 
the  narrator  takes  pains  to  assure  us,  he  was  thoroughly  informed 
(see  verses  5,   12). 


II   SAMUEL  18.  18-22.     C  ;»8i 

great  pit  in  the  forest,  and  raised  over  him  a  very  great 
heap  of  stones :  and  all  Israel  fled  every  one  to  his  tent. 
Now  Absalom  in  his  life  time  had  taken  and  reared  up  18 
for  himself  the  pillar,  which  is  in  the  king's  dale :  for  he 
said,  I  have  no  son  to  keep  my  name  in  remembrance : 
and  he  called  the  pillar  after  his  own  name :  and  it  is 
called  Absalom's  monument,  unto  this  day. 

Then  said  Ahimaaz  the  son  of  Zadok,  Let  me  now  19 
run,  and  bear  the  king  tidings,  how  that  the  Lord  hath 
avenged  him  of  his  enemies.     And  Joab  said  unto  him,  20 
Thou  shalt  not  be  the  bearer  of  tidings  this  day,  but  thou 
shalt  bear  tidings  another  day :  but  this  day  thou  shalt 
bear  no  tidings^  because  the  king's  son  is  dead.     Then  21 
said  Joab  to  the  Cushite,  Go  tell  the  king  what  thou  hast 
seen.     And  the  Cushite  bowed  himself  unto  Joab,  and 
ran.     Then  said  Ahimaaz  the  son  of  Zadok  yet  again  to  22 

3  8.  Absalom  being  without  male  offspring,  according  to  this 
earl3^  writer  (see  another  account  xiv.  27),  had  provided  for  the 
perpetuation  of  his  name  by  the  erection  of  a  memorial  pillar  in 
the  king''s  dale,  a  locality  mentioned  onlj'  here  and  Gen.  xiv.  17, 
and  not  yet  identified.  According  to  Josephus  it  was  two  stadia 
from  Jerusalem  {Antiquities,  VIII.  x.  3). 

xviii.  19-32.     How  the  tidings  were  conveyed  to  David. 

Ahimaaz,  the  son  of  Zadok  the  priest,  already  known  to  us 
(xv.  27,  xvii.  17),  and  a  certain  Ethiopian  unnamed,  vie  with  each 
other  in  the  race  to  Mahanaim. 

19.  hath  avenged  him  of  his  enemies:  ///.  as  marg.,  'hath 
judged  him  from  the  hand  of  his  enemies,'  where  'judged 'is  used, 
as  in  I  .Sam.  xxiv.  15  end,  in  the  sense  of  'delivered.'  So  'the 
Judges '  who  give  their  name  to  the  book  were  the  deliverers  or 
liberators  of  their  tribes. 

20  f.  Joab  at  first  refuses  to  expose  Ahimaaz  to  the  danger  in- 
volved in  being  the  bearer  of  evil  tidings  to  the  king  (see  iv.  lo), 
and  seems  to  play  upon  the  double  meaning  of  the  original  as 
expressing  both  good  and  bad  tidings.  In  place  of  Ahimaaz  Joab 
sends  a  Cushite  or  Ethiopian,  perhaps  a  slave,  the  risk  of  violent 
treatment  being  of  less  account  in  his  case, 

22.  Ahimaaz  succeeds  on  a  second  appeal,  expressing  himself 
as  ready  to  take  the  risk  at  which  Joab  had  hinted. 


282  II   SAMUEL  18.  23-27.      C 

Joab,  But  come  what  may,  let  me,  I  pray  thee,  also  run 
after  the  Cushite.  And  Joab  said,  Wherefore  wilt  thou 
run,  my  son,  seeing  that  thou  wilt  have  no  reward  for  the 

23  tidings?  But  come  what  may,  said  he,  I  will  run.  And 
he  said  unto  him,  Run.  Then  Ahimaaz  ran  by  the  way 
of  the  Plain,  and  overran  the  Cushite. 

24  Now  David  sat  between  the  two  gates  :  and  the  watch- 
man went  up  to  the  roof  of  the  gate  unto  the  wall,  and 
lifted   up   his    eyes,  and   looked,  and,   behold,  a  man 

25  running  alone.  And  the  watchman  cried,  and  told  the 
king.     And  the  king  said.  If  he  be  alone,  there  is  tidings 

26  in  his  mouth.  And  he  came  apace,  and  drew  near.  And 
the  watchman  saw  another  man  running  :  and  the  watch- 
man called  unto  the  porter,  and  said.  Behold,  anot/ier  ma.n 
running  alone.     And  the  king  said.  He  also  bringeth 

27  tidings.  And  the  watchman  said,  Me  thinketh  the 
running  of  the  foremost  is  like  the  running  of  Ahimaaz 
the  son  of  Zadok.     And  the  king  said,  He  is  a  good 

23.  by  the  way  of  the  Plain  of  the  Jordan  (Gen.  xiii.  10  f., 

1  Kings  vii.  46).  While  the  Ethiopian  probably  took  a  bee-line 
across  the  difficult  country  to  Mahanaim,  his  rival,  who  knew  the 
route  well  (see  on  xvii.  17),  made  a  detour  to  reach  the  high  road 
running  up  the  IVadi  Ajlnn  from  the  Jordan.  Though  the  longer, 
it  was  the  easier  and  quicker  route. 

24  ff.  For  a  companion  to  this  graphic  watch-tower  scene,  see 

2  Kings  ix.  17  ff. 

David  sat  hetween  the  two  g'ates :  the  gates,  or  rather  gate- 
houses, of  an  Eastern  city  may  be  described  as  extensions  outwards 
and  inwards  of  the  city  wall,  with  an  outer  and  inner  gateway. 
The  space  between  these  was  lined  with  stone  benches,  on  which 
the  elders  sat  '  in  the  gate,'  as  did  David  now  and  later  (xix.  8). 
This  particular  gate-house  had  an  upper  story  (verse  33),  the 
roof  of  which  was  apparentl}'  on  a  level  with  the  wall  (verse  24). 

25.  If  he  "be  alone  :  then  the  runner  is  a  courier  from  the  battle- 
field ;  were  it  a  case  of  defeat  and  a  rout,  he  would  be  accom- 
panied by  other  fugitives. 

26.  called  unto  the  porter :  read,  with  a  slight  change,  '  and 
the  watchman  upon  the  gate  called  out  and  said '  (cf  Lucian's 
Greek  text). 


II    SAMUEL  18.  28-33.     C  283 

man,   and   cometh  with   good   tidings.     And   Ahimaaz  28 
called,   and  said  unto  the  king,  All  is  well.     And  he 
bowed  himself  before  the  king  with  his  face  to  the  earth, 
and  said,  Blessed  be  the  Lord  thy  God,  which  hath 
delivered  up  the  men  that  lifted  up  their  hand  against 
my  lord  the  king.     And  the  king  said,  Is  it  well  with  the  29 
young  man  Absalom  ?    And  Ahimaaz  answered,  When 
Joab  sent  the  king's  servant,  even  me  thy  servant,  I  saw 
a  great  tumult,  but  I  knew  not  what  it  was.     And  the  30 
king  said,  Turn  aside,  and  stand  here.     And  he  turned 
aside,  and  stood  still.     And,  behold,  the  Cushite  came;  31 
and  the  Cushite  said.  Tidings  for  my  lord  the  king :  for 
the  Lord  hath  avenged  thee  this  day  of  all  them  that 
rose   up   against   thee.     And   the   king   said   unto    the  32 
Cushite,  Is  it  well  with  the  young  man  Absalom  ?   And 
the  Cushite  answered,  The  enemies  of  my  lord  the  king, 
and  all  that  rise  up  against  thee  to  do  thee  hurt,  be  as 
that  young  man  is.     And  the  king  was  much  moved,  and  33 
went  up  to  the  chamber  over  the  gate,  and  wept :  and  as 
he  went,  thus  he  said,  O  my  son  Absalom,  my  son,  my 
son   Absalom !    would   God    I    had   died    for   thee,   O 
Absalom,  my  son,  my  son ! 

28.  All  is  well :  an  unfortunate  rendering.  As  the  margin 
shows,  Ahimaaz  merely  gives  a  shortened  form  of  the  universal 
greeting,  ^  Peace  be  upon  thee.'  It  seems  as  if  the  youth's  courage 
failed  him  when  face  to  face  with  the  king,  for  he  finallv  takes 
refuge  in  a  falsehood. 

29.  Read  simply:  'When  Joab  sent  thy  servant,  I  saw.'  &c. 
(Wellhausen,  Budde).  The  rest  is  ungrammatical  and  un- 
necessarj'. 

32.  The  negro  is  more  courageous,  and  succeeds  in  convej'^ing 
the  fact  of  Absalom's  death  without  naming  him. 

xviii.  33 — xix.  8*^.  Da'oid''s  grief  and  J oah' s  rebuke. 

33.  and  as  lie  went :  read  with  Lucian  and  most  moderns : 
'and  as  he  wept.'  a  little  touch  which  adds  to  the  poignancy  of 
David's  grief. 


284  II    SAMUEL  19.  1-7.     C 

19      And  it  was  told  Joab,  Behold,  the  king  weepeth  and 

2  mourneth  for  Absalom,  And  the  victory  that  day  was 
turned  into  mourning  unto  all  the  people  :  for  the  people 

3  heard  say  that  day,  The  king  grieveth  for  his  son.  And 
the  people  gat  them  by  stealth  that  day  into  the  city,  as 
people  that  are  ashamed  steal  away  when  they  flee  in 

4  battle.  And  the  king  covered  his  face,  and  the  king 
cried  with  a  loud  voice,  O  my  son  Absalom,  O  Absalom, 

5  my  son,  my  son !  And  Joab  came  into  the  house  to  the 
king,  and  said.  Thou  hast  shamed  this  day  the  faces  of 
all  thy  servants,  which  this  day  have  saved  thy  life,  and 
the  lives  of  thy  sons  and  of  thy  daughters,  and  the  lives  of 

6  thy  wives,  and  the  lives  of  thy  concubines ;  in  that  thou 
lovest  them  that  hate  thee,  and  hatest  them  that  love 
thee.  For  thou  hast  declared  this  day,  that  princes  and 
servants  are  nought  unto  thee :  for  this  day  I  perceive, 
that  if  Absalom  had  lived,  and  all  we  had  died  this  day, 

7  then  it  had  pleased  thee  well.  Now  therefore  arise,  go 
forth,  and  speak  comfortably  unto  thy  servants :   for  I 

xix.  2  f.  These  two  verses  are  among  the  most  perfect  specimens 
of  literary  art  in  the  O.  T.  With  a  few  master-strokes  the  writer 
paints  the  sudden  revulsion  of  feeling  from  the  joy  and  pride  of 
victory  to  the  sorrow  that  is  born  of  perfect  sympathy  with 
another's  grief.  Then  follows  the  inimitable  picture  of  the  vic- 
torious veterans  'getting  them  by  stealth  that  day  into  the  city,' 
like  the  conscience-smitten  cowards  that  sneak  away  when  the 
day  is  lost,  or  like  the  thief  that  creeps  on  tip-toe  to  his  home 
before  the  dawn.  But  what  a  man  must  this  David  have  been  to 
have  so  endeared  himself  to  his  men,  that  his  personal  grief 
became  so  completely  theirs  !  Joab,  the  incarnation  of  state  policy 
('die  verkCrperte  Staatsraison ')  as  Budde  elsewhere  calls  him, 
fears  as  sudden  a  revulsion  of  feeling  in  the  opposite  direction. 
(5  ff.).  No  one  can  gainsay  the  truth  of  his  statements  or  the  force 
of  his  arguments,  and  yet  who  can  suppress  a  feeling  of  sympathy 
with  the  broken-hearted  king  ? 

6.  The  soldier's  indignation  here  leads  him  into  an  excusable 
exaggeration. 

7.  speak  comfortaljly  unto :   lit.   '  speak  to  the  heart  of  thy 


II   SAMUEL  19.  8-11.     C  285 

swear  by  the  Lord,  if  thou  go  not  forth,  there  will  not 
tarry  a  man  with  thee  this  night :  and  that  will  be  worse 
unto  thee  than  all  the  evil  that  hath  befallen  thee  from 
thy  youth  until  now.  Then  the  king  arose,  and  sat  in  8 
the  gate.  And  they  told  unto  all  the  people,  saying, 
Behold,  the  king  doth  sit  in  the  gate :  and  all  the  people 
came  before  the  king. 

Now  Israel  had  fled  every  man  to  his  tent.  And  all  9 
the  people  were  at  strife  throughout  all  the  tribes  of  Israel, 
saying,  The  king  delivered  us  out  of  the  hand  of  our 
enemies,  and  he  saved  us  out  of  the  hand  of  the  Philis- 
tines ;  and  now  he  is  fled  out  of  the  land  from  Absalom. 
And  Absalom,  whom  we  anointed  over  us,  is  dead  in  10 
battle.  Now  therefore  why  speak  ye  not  a  word  of 
bringing  the  king  back? 

And  king  David  sent  to  Zadok  and  to  Abiathar  the  n 
priests,  saying,  Speak  unto  the  elders  of  Judah,  saying, 

servants'  (cf.  Isa.  xl.  i).  The  history  of  popular  movements 
in  the  East  has  proved,  times  without  number,  the  accuracy  of 
Joab's  diagnosis  of  the  oriental  character. 

(e)  xix.  8''-43.  David's  return  to  Jerusalem. 

In  his  account  of  what  followed,  as  of  what  preceded  the  crisis 
of  the  rebellion  (chaps,  xv,  xvi),  the  historian  has  cast  the  bulk  of  his 
narrative  into  the  form  of  personal  interviews  with  the  king. 

8.  every  man  to  his  tent:  not  to  be  taken  literally,  but  as 
equivalent  to  Uo  his  home.'  This  archaism  is  a  survival  from  the 
nomadic  period  of  Hebrew  history,  and  is  frequently  found  in  the 
historical  books  (i  Sam.  iv.  10,  xiii.  2,  &c.). 

9f.  The  common  sense  of  the  nation  once  more  asserts  itself. 
The  people  recall  the  benefits  which  David  had  conferred,  and 
chide  their  leaders  for  the  delay  in  bringing  back  their  rightful 
king.  The  original  continuation  of  verse  10  must  be  restored 
from  ii'^ :  'and  the  speech  of  all  Israel  came  to  (the  ears  of)  the 
king'  (so  the  Versions  and  most  moderns). 

xix.  1 1- 15.  David's  secret  overtures  to  the  tribe  of  Judah. 

Himself  a  member  of  the  tribe  whose  ancient  sanctuary  had  been 
the  focus  of  the  rebellion,  David,  with  his  statesman's  eye,  saw  in 
the  new  situation  a  favourable  opportunity  of  binding  the  southern 


286  II   Sx^MUEL   19.  12-16.     C 

Why  are  ye  the  last  to  bring  the  king  back  to  his  house  ? 
seeing  the  speech  of  all  Israel  is  come  to  the  king,  to 

12  bring  him  to  his  house.  Ye  are  my  brethren,  ye  are  my 
bone  and  my  flesh :  wherefore  then  are  ye  the  last  to 

1 3  bring  back  the  king  ?  And  say  ye  to  Amasa,  Art  thou 
not  my  bone  and  my  flesh  ?  God  do  so  to  me,  and  more 
also,    if  thou   be   not   captain   of  the  host  before  me 

14  continually  in  the  room  of  Joab.  And  he  bowed  the 
heart  of  all  the  men  of  Judah,  even  as  the  heart  of  one 
man ;  so  that  they  sent  unto  the  king,  sayings  Return 

15  thou,  and  all  thy  servants.  So  the  king  returned,  and 
came  to  Jordan.  And  Judah  came  to  Gilgal,  to  go  to 
meet  the  king,  to  bring  the  king  over  Jordan. 

16  And  Shimei  the  son  of  Gera,  the  Benjamite,  which 
was  of  Bahurim,  hasted  and  came  down  with  the  men 


clans  anew  to  his  person.  Accordingly  he  opens  negotiations  with 
the  sheikhs  through  his  faithful  alhes,  Zadok  and  Abiathar,  In 
thus  playing  off  the  South  against  the  North,  David  was  doubtless 
aware  of  the  risk  he  ran  of  increasing  the  jealousy,  already  of 
long  standing,  between  them,  but  in  the  circumstances  David  can 
scarcely  be  blamed  for  seeing  in  his  southern  kinsfolk,  in  the  men 
who,  as  he  says,  were  his  bone  and  his  flesh  (verse  12),  the  natural 
support  of  his  dynasty. 

11.  to  bring*  the  king*  back  to  his  house :  the  plea  of  kinship 
put  forward  in  the  following  verse  favours  the  rendering  '  to  bring 
the  king  home  again,*  a  significant  addition  to  the  northmen's 
phrase  in  verse  10.  The  reason  why  the  sheikhs  of  Judah  held 
back  is  evident  enough  (see  note  above),  and  is  all  to  their  credit. 

13.  Amasa,  David's  nephew,  is  offered  the  post  of  commander- 
in-chief,  Joab  having  forfeited  his  sovereign's  confidence  by  his 
flagrant  disobedience  of  orders  in  the  matter  of  Absalom.  He 
who  would  command  must  first  learn  to  obey. 

15.  The  representatives  of  Judah  go  to  meet  David  at  the 
entrance  to  their  own  territory,  in  all  probability  at  the  ford  of 
El-Hajla,  which  preserves  the  name  of  Beth-hoglah,  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Gilgal  (Josh.  xv.  6  f.). 

16  If.  The  first  of  the  personal  interviews  to  which  reference 
was  made  above  is  that  between  David  and  Shimei.  The 
introduction  of  Ziba  (17'',  18*)  is  a  parenthesis  which  should  be 


II   SAMUEL  19.  17-22.     C  287 

of  Judah   to   meet   king   David.       And   there   were   a  17 
thousand   men   of  Benjamin   with   him,  and  Ziba   the 
servant  of  the  house  of  Saul,  and  his  fifteen  sons  and  his 
twenty  servants  with  him  ;  and  they  went  through  Jordan 
in  the  presence  of  the   king.     And  there   went  over  a  18 
ferry  boat  to  bring  over  the  king's  household,  and  to  do 
what  he  thought  good.     And  Shimei  the  son  of  Gera 
fell  down  before  the   king,   when   he   was   come   over 
Jordan.     And  he  said  unto  the  king,  Let  not  my  lord  19 
impute  iniquity  unto  me,  neither  do  thou  remember  that 
which  thy  servant  did  perversely  the  day  that  my  lord 
the  king  went  out  of  Jerusalem,  that  the  king  should 
take  it  to  his  heart.     For  thy  servant  doth  know  that  I  20 
have  sinned  :  therefore,  behold,  I  am  come  this  day  the 
first  of  all  the  house  of  Joseph  to  go  down  to  meet  my 
lord  the  king.     But  Abishai  the  son  of  Zeruiah  answered  ^1 
and  said.  Shall  not  Shimei  be  put  to  death  for  this, 
because  he  cursed  the  Lord's  anointed?    And  David  23 

rendered  thus  :  '  Now  Ziba  .  .  .  with  him,  had  dashed  through  the 
Jordan  in  the  presence  of  the  king  and  kept  crossing  (and 
recrossing)  the  ford  ' — the  word  rendered  '  ferry  boat '  in  the  text 
of  R. V. — 'to  bring  over  the  king's  household.'  Ziba's  fifteen 
sons  and  twenty  servants  carried  the  women  and  children  and 
some  perhaps  of  the  dainty  courtiers  through  the  ford.  Foreseeing 
the  day  of  reckoning,  the  crafty  Ziba  hastens  to  render  David  a 
service,  and  thus,  like  the  unjust  steward,  secure  at  least  one 
entry  to  his  credit.  At  the  end  of  verse  18  render  with  the 
margin  :  *  when  he  would  go  over  Jordan,'  the  king  being  still  on 
the  eastern  bank. 

20.  It  is  noteworthy  that  Shimei,  a  member  of  the  tribe  of 
Benjamin,  claims  to  belong  to  the  house  of  Joseph.  Cf.  Judges 
i.  22,  and  for  the  conclusions  that  have  been  drawn  from  this  and 
from  the  name  Benjamin  ('  men  of  the  south  ')  as  to  the  historical 
origin  of  the  tribe,  see  Hope  Hogg's  article  *  Benjamin  '  in  EBL 

21.  Abishai,  impulsive  and  bloodthirsty  as  ever  (see  on  xvi.  9), 
intervenes  with  the  reminder  that  Shimei  had  been  guilty  of 
blasphemy.  Only  here,  in  this  narrative  (C),  is  the  expression 
'the  Lord's  anointed'  applied  to  David. 

22  f.  David  asserts  his  royal  prerogative  of  mercy  in  face  of  the 


288  II   SAMUEL  19.  33-28.     C 

said,  What  have  I  to  do  with  you,  ye  sons  of  Zeruiah, 
that  ye  should  this  day  be  adversaries  unto  me  ?  shall 
there  any  man  be  put  to  death  this  day  in  Israel  ?  for  do 

23  not  I  know  that  I  am  this  day  king  over  Israel  ?  And 
the  king  said  unto  Shimei,  Thou  shalt  not  die.  And  the 
king  sware  unto  him. 

24  And  Mephibosheth  the  son  of  Saul  came  down  to  meet 
the  king ;  and  he  had  neither  dressed  his  feet,  nor 
trimmed  his  beard,  nor  washed  his  clothes,  from  the  day 
the  king  departed  until  the  day  he  came  home  in  peace. 

35  And  it  came  to  pass,  when  he  was  come  to  Jerusalem  to 
meet  the  king,  that  the  king  said  unto  him.  Wherefore 

26  wentest  not  thou  with  me,  Mephibosheth  ?  And  he 
answered,  My  lord,  O  king,  my  servant  deceived  me : 
for  thy  servant  said,  I  will  saddle  me  an  ass,  that  I  may 
ride  thereon,  and  go  with  the  king ;  because  thy  servant 

27  is  lame.  And  he  hath  slandered  thy  servant  unto  my 
lord  the  king ;  but  my  lord  the  king  is  as  an  angel  of 

28  God  :  do  therefore  what  is  good  in  thine  eyes.  For  all 
my  father's  house  were  but  dead  men  before  my  lord  the 

masterful  and  unforgiving  sons  of  Zeruiah,  refusing  to  mar  the  joy 
of  so  auspicious  a  day  by  further  bloodshed.  For  the  ultimate 
fate  of  Shimei  and  the  difficult  questions  raised  by  it,  see  Skinner 
on  I  Kings  ii  in  this  series  (Century  Bible). 

24  ff.  The  second  interview — David  and  Meri-baal  (Mephi- 
bosheth), here  described  loosely  as  the  son  of  Saul  (cf.  ix.  7, 
'  Saul  thy  father ').  During  the  whole  period  of  David's  absence 
from  Jerusalem  he  had  lived  as  a  mourner. 

neither  dressed  his  feet :  render,  as  in  the  original  text  of 
LXX,  'neither  trimmed  his  toe-nails' — Lucian  adds  'nor  his 
finger-nails ' — '  nor  his  beard,'  &c.  The  verb  is  the  same  for  both 
operations  {lit.  '  to  do ')  ;  cf.  Deut.  xxi.  12,  where  it  is  rendered 
*  to  pare  (the  nails),'  and  has  reference,  as  here,  to  the  intermission 
of  the  care  of  the  person  during  the  period  of  mourning.  In  the 
next  verse  read,  of  course,  'when  he  was  come  from  Jerusalem.' 

27.  as  an  ang'el  of  Ood:  the  embodiment  of  wisdom  to  discern 
the  right,  as  xiv.  17,  20.  The  last  clause,  'do  therefore'  &c., 
belongs  to  the  next  verse. 


II   SAMUEL  19.  29-35.     C  289 

king :  yet  didst  thou  set  thy  servant  among  them  that 
did  eat  at  thine  own  table.  What  right  therefore  have  I 
yet  that  I  should  cry  any  more  unto  the  king?  And  the  29 
king  said  unto  him.  Why  speakest  thou  any  more  of  thy 
matters  ?  I  say,  Thou  and  Ziba  divide  the  land.  And  30 
Mephibosheth  said  unto  the  king,  Yea,  let  him  take  all, 
forasmuch  as  my  lord  the  king  is  come  in  peace  unto  his 
own  house. 

And  Barzillai  the  Gileadite  came  down  from  Rogelim  ;  31 
and  he  went  over  Jordan  with  the  king,  to  conduct  him 
over  Jordan.     Now  Barzillai  was  a  very  aged  man,  even  32 
fourscore  years  old  :  and  he  had  provided  the  king  with 
sustenance  while  he  lay  at  Mahanaim  ;  for  he  was  a  very 
great  man.      And  the  king  said  unto  Barzillai,  Come  33 
thou  over  with  me,  and  I  will  sustain  thee  with  me  in 
Jerusalem.      And    Barzillai   said   unto   the   king.    How  34 
many  are  the  days  of  the  years  of  my  life,  that  I  should 
go  up  with  the  king  unto   Jerusalem  ?    I  am  this  day  35 
fourscore  years  old  :   can  I  discern  between  good  and 
bad  ?  can  thy  servant  taste  what  I  eat  or  what  I  drink  ? 

29.  The  king's  impatience  is  more  forcibly  brought  out  by 
Lucian's  text,  *  why  wilt  thou  further  multiply  words.' 

30.  Yea,  let  him  take  all :  from  Western  lips  this  would  be  set 
down  as  the  sarcasm  of  a  disappointed  man,  but  in  reality  it  has 
a  fine  flavour  of  oriental  etiquette. 

31  «f.  The  third  interview — David  and  Barzillai.  The  latter 
had  been  David's  host  at  Mahanaim,  and  has  now  escorted  his 
guest  as  far  as  the  Jordan.  The  narrative  has  become  obscured 
through  the  ambiguity  of  the  verb  '  to  pass  over,  cross,'  which 
also  means  '  to  pass  on,'  &c.  Read  here  :  '  and  Barzillai  .  .  . 
passed  on  with  the  king  to  conduct  him  to  the  Jordan.'  The  text 
has  suffered  in  the  same  way  in  verses  36,  40. 

34  ff.  Barzillai's  two  reasons  for  declining  the  king's  invitation. 
(i)  The  tree  was  too  old  to  bear  transplanting ;  (2)  age  had 
dulled  both  his  senses  and  his  faculties  so  that  he  could  hope 
neither  to  appreciate  the  dainties  of  the  royal  table  nor  to  enjoy 
the  refinements  of  court  life. 

U 


290  II   SAMUEL  19.  36-41.     C 

can  I  hear  any  more  the  voice  of  singing  men  and 
singing  women  ?  wherefore  then  should  thy  servant  be 

36  yet  a  burden  unto  my  lord  the  king  ?  Thy  servant  would 
but  just  go  over  Jordan  with  the  king :  and  why  should 

37  the  king  recompense  it  me  with  such  a  reward?  Let  thy 
servant,  I  pray  thee,  turn  back  again,  that  I  may  die  in 
mine  own  city,  by  the  grave  of  my  father  and  my  mother. 
But  behold,  thy  servant  Chimham ;  let  him  go  over  with 
my  lord  the  king ;  and  do  to  him  what  shall  seem  good 

3S  unto  thee.  And  the  king  answered,  Chimham  shall  go 
over  with  me,  and  I  will  do  to  him  that  which  shall  seem 
good  unto  thee  :   and  whatsoever  thou  shalt  require  of 

39  me,  that  will  I  do  for  thee.  And  all  the  people  went  over 
Jordan,  and  the  king  went  over :  and  the  king  kissed 
Barzillai,  and  blessed  him ;  and  he  returned  unto  his 
own  place. 

40  So  the  king  went  over  to  Gilgal,  and  Chimham  went 
over  with  him  :  and  all  the  people  of  Judah  brought  the 

41  king  over,  and  also  half  the  people  of  Israel.  And, 
behold,  all  the  men  of  Israel  came  to  the  king,  and  said 

35.  the  voice  of  sin^ingf  men  and  singing'  women  :  David's 
interest  in  music  is  also  attested  by  our  oldest  literary  prophet, 
Amos  vi.  5. 

36.  Render  :  '  Thy  servant  would  pass  on  with  (or,  accompany) 
the  king  but  a  little  way,'  deleting  Jordan,  which  has  come  in 
through  ascribe  taking  the  verb  in  the  more  usual  sense  of  passing 
over,  see  above. 

39.  the  king"  went  over :  this  is  premature  (see  below),  and 
we  must  read  with  Lucian,  '  but  the  king  stood  still '  (Smith, 
Budde).  As  in  xv.  23,  where  the  same  error  has  crept  in,  the 
troops  march  past  the  king,  who  is  stationed  with  Barzillai  on  the 
east  bank  of  the  Jordan. 

40.  Now,  at  last,  David  crosses  the  river  to  find  the  men  of 
Judah  waiting  to  welcome  and  escort  him  (see  verse  15).  Render 
however:  'and  all  the  people  of  Judah  passed  on  with  the  king, 
and  also  half  the  people  of  Israel.' 

41.  The  northern  representatives  complain  to  the  king  that 
their  southern  fellow  subjects  had  stolen  a  march  upon  them — for 


11   SAMUEL  19.  42—20.  I.     C  291 

unto  the  king,  Why  have  our  brethren  the  men  of  Judah 
stolen  thee  away,  and  brought  the  king,  and  his  house- 
hold, over  Jordan,  and  all  David's  men  with  him  ?  And  42 
all  the  men  of  Judah  answered  the  men  of  Israel,  Because 
the  king  is  near  of  kin  to  us  :  wherefore  then  be  ye 
angry  for  this  matter  ?  have  we  eaten  at  all  of  the  king's 
cost  ?  or  hath  he  given  us  any  gift  ?  And  the  men  of  43 
Israel  answered  the  men  of  Judah,  and  said.  We  have  ten 
parts  in  the  king,  and  we  have  also  more  right  in  David 
than  ye  :  why  then  did  ye  despise  us,  that  our  advice 
should  not  be  first  had  in  bringing  back  our  king  ?  And 
the  words  of  the  men  of  Judah  were  fiercer  than  the 
words  of  the  men  of  Israel. 

And  there   happened  to  be  there  a  man  of  Belial,  20 


the  true  explanation  see  pp.  285  ff. — and  were  present  in  their 
full  strength  to  welcome  the  king,  while  only  a  fraction  apparently 
(note  *  half  the  people  of  Israel,'  verse  40)  of  the  north  men  had 
had  time  to  assemble.  The  last  clause  should  perhaps  be  read, 
with  the  slightest  possible  change,  '  and  all  David's  men  are  his 
people'  (Smith,  Budde),  i.e.  are  all  equally  loyal  and  therefore 
entitled  to  equal  treatment. 

42.  The  men  of  Judah  intervene  in  their  own  defence,  claiming 
that  theirs  is  the  first  place  in  the  king's  favour  by  right  of  kinship 
and  of  disinterested  service.  They  protest  that  they  had  derived 
no  advantage  from  their  tribal  connexion  with  David.  For  the 
difficulty  of  text  and  rendering  here,  see  Driver's  Notes  in  loc. 

43.  The  men  of  Israel  retort  with  the  argument  of  numbers. 
For  the  ten  parts  cf.  i  Kings  xi.  31  f.  with  Skinner's  note 
(Century  Bible), 

we  have  also  more  right  in  David  than  ye  :  an  attempt  to 
translate  a  corrupt  text.  Read  with  LXX  and  all  modern  critics: 
'  and  I  am  also  the  firstborn  rather  than  thou,'  on  which  i  Chron. 
v.  I  f.  is  the  best  commentary. 

that  our  advice  .  .  .  king:  rather  (see  R. V.  marg.),  'and 
was  not  I  the  first  to  speak  of  bringing  back  my  king?'  (verse  lo). 
The  historian  adds  that  the  reply  of  the  men  of  Judah  was  still 
more  vigorous  and  heated,  but  he  forbears  to  give  it. 

E.    2  Sam.  XX.    The  Revolt  of  Sheba. 
The  mutual  recriminations  of  north  and  south  culminated,  even 

U   2 


292  II   SAMUEL  20.  2-7.     C 

whose  name  was  Sheba,  the  son  of  Bichri,  a  Benjamite : 
and  he  blew  the  trumpet,  and  said,  We  have  no  portion 
in   David,    neither   have  we  inheritance  in  the   son  of 

2  Jesse  :  every  man  to  his  tents,  O  Israel.  So  all  the  men 
of  Israel  went  up  from  following  David,  and  followed 
Sheba  the  son  of  Bichri :  but  the  men  of  Judah  clave 
unto  their  king,  from  Jordan  even  to  Jerusalem. 

3  And  David  came  to  his  house  at  Jerusalem  ;  and  the 
king  took  the  ten  women  his  concubines,  whom  he  had 
left  to  keep  the  house,  and  put  them  in  ward,  and 
provided  them  with  sustenance,  but  went  not  in  unto 
them.  So  they  were  shut  up  unto  the  day  of  their 
death,  living  in  widowhood. 

4  Then  said  the  king  to  Amasa,  Call  me  the  men  of 
Judah  together  within  three  days,  and   be   thou   here 

5  present.  So  Amasa  went  to  call  the  men  of  Judah 
together  :  but  he  tarried  longer  than  the  set  time  which 

6  he  had  appointed  him.  And  David  said  to  Abishai, 
Now  shall  Sheba  the  son  of  Bichri  do  us  more  harm  than 
did  Absalom :  take  thou  thy  lord's  servants,  and  pursue 
after  him,  lest  he  get  him  fenced  cities,  and  escape  out 

7  of  our  sight.  And  there  went  out  after  him  Joab's  men, 
and  the  Cherethites  and  the  Pelethites,  and  all  the 
mighty  men  :  and  they  went  out  of  Jerusalem,  to  pursue 

before  the  king  had  left  the  Jordan  valley,  in  one  of  the  northern 
representatives,  a  Benjamite  noble  named  Sheba,  renouncing  his 
allegiance  to  David,  and  summoning  the  tribes  of  Israel  to  his 
standard.     The  text  is  unfortunately  in  many  places  uncertain. 

1.  Sheba's  war-cry  reappears  at  a  later  crisis  in  the  relations 
of  north  and  south,  i  Kings  xii.  16. 

3.  David's  first  public  act  on  his  return,  necessitated  by  the 
incident  recorded  xvi.  21  f. 

4.  Amasa's  commission  implies  that  David  had  kept  the  promise 
of  xix.  13. 

7.  Here  we  should  probably  read,  with  Graetz  and  later  scholars : 
'and  there  went  out  after  Abishai,  Joab  and  the  Cherethites/ 


II   SAMUEL  20.  8-13.     C  393 

after  Sheba  the  son  of  Bichri.     When  they  were  at  the  8 
great  stone  which  is  in  Gibeon,  Amasa  came  to  meet 
them.     And  Joab  was  girded  with  his  apparel  of  war 
that  he  had  put  on,  and  thereon  was  a  girdle  with  a 
sword  fastened  upon  his  loins  in  the  sheath  thereof;  and 
as  he  went  forth  it  fell  out.     And  Joab  said  to  Amasa,  9 
Is  it  well  with  thee,  my  brother  ?   And  Joab  took  Amasa 
by  the  beard  with  his  right   hand   to   kiss   him.     But  10 
Amasa  took  no  heed  to  the  sword  that  was  in  Joab's 
hand :  so  he  smote  him  therewith  in  the  belly,  and  shed 
out  his  bowels  to  the  ground,  and  struck  him  not  again ; 
and  he  died.     And  Joab  and  Abishai  his  brother  pursued 
after  Sheba  the  son  of  Bichri.     And  there  stood  by  him  11 
one  of  Joab's  young  men,  and  said,  He  that  favoureth 
Joab,   and   he  that  is  for  David,  let  him  follow  Joab. 
And  Amasa  lay  wallowing  in  his  blood  in  the  midst  of  12 
the  high  way.     And  when  the   man  saw  that  all   the 
people  stood  still,  he  carried  Amasa  out  of  the  high  way 
into  the  field,  and  cast  a  garment  over  him,  when  he  saw 
that  every  one  that  came  by  him  stood  still.     When  he  13 

&c.  For  the  last  see  on  viii.  i8,  and  for  the  mighty  men  see  on 
X.   7. 

8.  Amasa  came  to  m.eet  them :  Abishai  and  his  command  had 
only  reached  Gibeon,  about  six  miles  from  Jerusalem,  when  they 
met  Amasa  on  his  way  to  the  capital  with  the  levies  he  had 
raised.  The  rest  of  the  verse  '  is  involved  and  obscure,  though 
the  fact  is  effectively  concealed  in  the  free  rendering  of  R.  V.' 
Thus  Driver  {Azotes  in  loc.)  who  adopts  the  emendation  of  Klos- 
termann  and  reads  :  *  and  as  for  Joab  a  sword  was  in  his  hand 
underneath  his  warrior's  dress  (cf.  Judges  iii.  16),  and  upon  it  (i.e. 
outside)  he  was  girt  with  a  sword  fastened,'  &c.  In  addition  to  the 
usual  sword,  which  slipped  from  its  sheath,  Joab  like  Ehud  carried 
another  in  his  left  hand  (verse  lo),  concealed  beneath  his  military 
cloak,  and  with  this  he  stabbed  Amasa. 

10.  Joab  and  Abishai  his  brother :  from  this  point,  by  his 
force  of  character  and  experience,  Joab  becomes  the  real  leader  of 
the  expedition. 


294  n   SAMUEL  20.  14-16.     C 

was  removed  out  of  the  high  way,  all  the  people  went  on 
after  Joab,  to   pursue  after  Sheba  the  son   of  Bichri. 

14  And  he  went  through  all  the  tribes  of  Israel  unto  Abel, 
and  to  Beth-maacah,  and  all  the  Berites :  and  they  were 

15  gathered  together,  and  went  also  after  him.  And  they 
came  and  besieged  him  in  Abel  of  Beth-maacah,  and 
they  cast  up  a  mount  against  the  city,  and  it  stood 
against  the  rampart :  and  all  the  people  that  were  with 

16  Joab  battered  the  wall,  to  throw  it  down.  Then  cried 
a  wise  woman  out  of  the  city.  Hear,  hear ;  say,  I  pray 
you,  unto  Joab,  Come  near  hither,  that  I  may  speak 

14.  This  verse  describes  the  progress  of  Sheba,  not  of  Joab. 
The  text,  however,  is  in  disorder,  and  may  have  originally  run 
somewhat  as  follows  :  *  Now  he  (Sheba)  had  gone  through  all  the 
tribes  of  Israel,  but  they  treated  him  with  contempt  (so  the  con- 
sonantal text),  and  he  came  to  Abel-beth-maacah,  and  all  the 
Bichri tes  went  after  him.' 

unto  Abel  and  to  Beth-maacah :  to  be  read  as  one  word  as 
above  (cf.  next  verse),  and  to  be  identified  with  the  modern  Abil 
on  a  strong  site  about  five  miles  west  of  Dan  {Tell-el-Kadi)  and 
the  same  distance  from  the  sharp  bend  of  the  Litany  river. 

and  all  the  Berites :  read  as  above,  '  and  all  the  Bichrites,' 
the  clan  to  which  Sheba  belonged  (verse  i).  His  following  seems 
to  have  been  almost  confined  to  his  own  kinsfolk. 

15f.  David's  anticipation  in  verse  6  (end)  was  fulfilled.  The 
details  of  the  siege  are  obscured  by  the  uncertainty  of  the  text. 

they  cast  np  a  mount :  i.  e.  a  mound  of  earth  (cf.  2  Kings 
xix.  32)  on  which  the  battering-rams  and  other  engines  were 
mounted. 

and  it  stood  against  the  rampart  {hel) :  ancient  cities  were 
defended,  as  a  rule,  by  two  walls,  the  city-wall  proper,  and  a 
lower  wall  at  a  short  distance  in  advance  of  the  other,  termed  in 
Hebrew  the  hel  or  rampart.  The  received  text  represents  Joab 
as  pressing  forward  his  mound  until  it  reached  this  first  wall,  but 
for  various  reasons,  textual  and  other,  it  is  necessary  after  *  the 
city '  in  the  preceding  clause  to  read :  *  and  there  came  a  wise 
woman  out  of  the  city  and  stood  upon  the  rampart,  while  all  the 
people  that  were  with  Joab  were  devising  means  to  throw  down 
the  wall,  and  she  said,  Hear,  hear,'  &c.  This  assumes  that  two 
lines  of  the  Hebrew  MS.  have  been  transposed  (Klostermann  and 
others). 


II   SAMUEL  20.  17-22.     C  295 

with  thee.     And  he  came  near  unto  her ;  and  the  woman  17 
said,  Art  thou  Joab  ?   And  he  answered,  I  am.     Then 
she  said  unto  him,  Hear  the  words  of  thine  handmaid. 
And  he  answered,  I  do  hear.     Then  she  spake,  saying,  18 
They  were  wont  to  speak  in  old  time,  saying,  They  shall 
surely  ask  coimsel  at  Abel :  and  so  they  ended  the  matter, 
I  am  of  them  that  are  peaceable  and  faithful  in  Israel :  19 
thou  seekest  to  destroy  a  city  and  a  mother  in  Israel :  why 
wilt  thou  swallow  up  the  inheritance  of  the  Lord  ?   And  20 
Joab  answered  and  said.  Far  be  it,  far  be  it  from  me, 
that  I  should  swallow  up  or  destroy.     The  matter  is  not  21 
so  :  but  a  man  of  the  hill  country  of  Ephraim,  Sheba  the 
son  of  Bichri  by  name,  hath  lifted  up  his  hand  against 
the  king,  even  against  David :  deliver  him  only^  and  I 
will  depart  from  the  city.     And  the  woman  said  unto 
Joab,  Behold,  his  head  shall  be  thrown  to  thee  over  the 
wall.     Then  the  woman  went  unto  all  the  people  in  her  22 
wisdom.     And  they  cut  off  the  head  of  Sheba  the  son  of 

18  f.  Here  again  the  text  has  suffered.  By  inserting  the  words 
'  counsel '  and  '  matter'  the  Revisers  get  a  fair  sense,  which,  how- 
ever, has  little  bearing  on  the  situation  and  leaves  19"  in  its 
obscuritj'.  Since  Ewald  ^^Hist.  of  Israel,  iii.  195),  scholars  have 
given  the  preference  to  the  Greek  text,  which  runs  :  '  They  were 
wont  to  quote  a  proverb  in  old  time,  saying,  Ask  in  Abel  and  in 
Dan  whether  anything  has  ever  fallen  into  disuse  which  the  faith- 
ful of  Israel  had  once  ordained;  but  thou  seekest  to  destroy,'  &c. 
The  woman,  in  other  words,  reproaches  Joab  with  seeking  to 
destroy  a  city  which  was  famed  as  one  of  the  two  most  faithful 
conservators  of  Hebrew  manners  and  customs  in  the  countr3\ 

a  mother  in  Israel :  an  important  and  venerable  city  with 
dependent  villages,  which  in  the  Hebrew  idiom  were  called  its 
'daughters'  (Num.  xxi.  25,  32,  and  oftener).  The  phrase  *a 
mother  in  Israel'  is  elsewhere  applied  only  to  Deborah  (Judges 
V.   7). 

20.  Joab  indignantly  repels  the  woman's  impeachment.  Only 
Sheba  the  traitor  is  the  object  of  his  quest ;  if  he  is  given  up  the 
siege  will  be  raised. 

22.  Read;  'Then  the  woman  went  into  the  city  and  spake 
unto  all  the  people  in  her  wisdom'  (cf.  LXX). 


296  II    SAMUEL  20.  23—21.  I.     CRZ 

Bichri,  and  threw  it  out  to  Joab.  And  he  blew  the 
trumpet,  and  they  were  dispersed  from  the  city,  every 
man  to  his  tent.  And  Joab  returned  to  Jerusalem  unto 
the  king. 

23  [R]  Now  Joab  was  over  all  the  host  of  Israel :  and 
Benaiah  the  son  of  Jehoiada  was  over  the  Cherethites  and 

24  over  the  Pelethites  :  and  Adoram  was  over  the  tribute : 
and  Jehoshaphat  the  son  of  Ahilud  was  the  recorder : 

25  and  Sheva  was  scribe :  and  Zadok  and  Abiathar  were 

26  priests  :  and  Ira  also  the  Jairite  was  priest  unto  David. 

21      [^]  A^d  there  was  a  famine  in  the  days  of  David 


XX.  23-6.  A  duplicate  list  of  David's  chief  officers  of  state. 

This  list  is  a  repetition,  with  some  variations  in  order  and  con- 
tents, of  that  already  given  in  viii.  i6-i8.  Its  presence  here  is 
best  explained  by  Budde's  suggestion  that  the  editor  v/ho  restored 
chs.  ix-xx,  which  were  probably  wanting  in  the  first  edition 
of  Samuel  (see  Introduction,  sect,  v),  reproduced  the  list  as  an 
appropriate  close  to  his  book.  The  arrangement  of  the  various 
offices  is  more  logical  than  in  ch.  viii,  as  was  noted  there. 

24.  Adoram  was  over  the  tribute :  rather,  '  the  labour-gangs ' 
or  levies  (R.  V.  marg.)  raised  under  the  system  of  corvee  or 
forced  labour,  an  item  omitted  from  the  previous  list.  Adoram  or 
Adoniram  held  this  office  until  the  reign  of  Rehoboam  (i  Kings 
iv.  6,  xii.  18). 

26.  Ira  .  .  the  Jairite,  a  member  of  the  Gileadite  family  of 
Jair  (Num.  xxxii.  41),  here  takes  the  place  of  David's  sons  in 
viii.  18. 

Fourth  Division.  2  Samuel  XXI-XXIV. 
An  Appendix  of  Various  Contents. 
These  four  chapters  are  universally  recognized  as  a  later 
appendix  to  the  original  Book  (or  Books)  of  Samuel.  They 
interrupt  the  main  current  of  the  early  narrative  in  chs.  ix-xx, 
which  is  now  continued  in  the  first  two  chapters  of  the  Book  of 
Kings.  The  contents  are  of  varied  character,  comprising  two 
additional  narratives,  two  poems,  and  two  lists  of  David's  heroes 
and  their  achievements,  six  sections  in  all.  The  gradual  literary 
process  by  which  the  appendix  probably  assumed  its  present 
form  has  been  indicated  in  the  Introduction  (p.  23). 


II   SAMUEL  21.  2,  3.     Z  297 

three  years,  year  after  year ;  and  David  sought  the  face 
of  the  Lord.  And  the  Lord  said,  It  is  for  Saul,  and 
for  his  bloody  house,  because  he  put  to  death  the 
Gibeonites.  And  the  king  called  the  Gibeonites,  and  2 
said  unto  them ;  (now  the  Gibeonites  were  not  of  the 
children  of  Israel,  but  of  the  remnant  of  the  Amorites  ; 
and  the  children  of  Israel  had  sworn  unto  them  :  and 
Saul  sought  to  slay  them  in  his  zeal  for  the  children  of 
Israel  and  Judah  :)  and  David  said  unto  the  Gibeonites,  3 
What  shall  I  do  for  you  ?  and  wherewith  shall  I  make 


(«)  xxi.  1-14.  The  famine  audits  consequences  for  the  house  of 
Saul. 

The  first  and  last  sections  of  the  appendix  are  closely  related 
(see  on  xxiv.  i),  and  may  with  comparative  certainty  be  referred 
to  the  same  source.  That  tliis  source,  though  undoubtedly  old, 
was  the  early  document  which  has  just  given  us  the  court  and 
family  history  of  David  cannot  for  various  reasons  be  entertained 
(see  below).  We  propose  therefore  to  group  the  contents  of  the 
appendix  with  the  later  additions  to  the  book  (e.  g.  i  Sam.  ii. 
I- 10)  under  the  symbol  Z,  without  implying  that  there  is  any 
connexion  whatever  between  the  very  different  sections  thus 
indicated. 

1.  A  three  years'  famine  is  attributed  by  a  Divine  oracle  to  the 
fact  that  Saul  had  violated  the  sanctity  of  a  covenant  between 
Israel  and  the  Gibeonites,  a  crime  of  sacrilege  which  could  only 
be  expiated  by  the  blood  of  the  house  of  Saul.  *  Few  sections  of 
the  O.  T.  show  more  clearly  the  religious  ideas  of  the  time. 
Wc  see  how  Yahweh  as  the  avenger  of  a  broken  covenant 
requires  from  the  children  of  the  offender  the  blood  that  has  been 
shed  '  (H.  P.  Smith). 

It  is  for  Saul  and  for  his  liloody  house  :  read  by  dividing  the 
text  differently,  'upon  Saul  and  upon  his  house  (rests)  blood,' 
i.e.  as  LXX  explains,  the  guilt  of  blood  (cf.  Deut.  xix.  10  and 
above  xvi.  8).  The  original  narrator  gave  no  explanation  of  the 
crime  referred  to,  nor  was  this  required  in  his  day,  but  a  marginal 
note  was  appended  later  and  now  occupies  the  greater  part  of 
verse  2. 

2.  This  treaty  with  Gibeon  is  now  recorded  in  Joshua  ix. 
Another  hint  of  Saul's  attempt  to  exterminate  the  members  of  the 
Gibeonite  league  has  been  found  by  some  in  an  earlier  chapter 
(iv.  si.),  where  perhaps  the  same  annotator  has  left  his  marl:. 


298  11   SAMUEL  21.  4-8.     2; 

atonement,  that  ye   may  bless   the  inheritance   of  the 

4  Lord  ?  And  the  Gibeonites  said  unto  him,  It  is  no 
matter  of  silver  or  gold  between  us  and  Saul,  or  his 
house ;  neither  is  it  for  us  to  put  any  man  to  death  in 
Israel.     And  he  said.  What  ye  shall  say,  that  will  I  do 

5  for  you.  And  they  said  unto  the  king,  The  man  that 
consuhied  us,  and  that  devised  against  us,  that  we  should 
be  destroyed  from  remaining  in  any  of  the  borders  of 

6  Israel,  let  seven  men  of  his  sons  be  delivered  unto  us, 
and  we  will  hang  them  up  unto  the  Lord  in  Gibeah  of 
Saul,  the  chosen  of  the  Lord.     And  the  king  said,  I 

7  will  give  them.  But  the  king  spared  Mephibosheth,  the 
son  of  Jonathan  the  son  of  Saul,  because  of  the  Lord's 
oath    that    was    between    them,    between    David   and 

8  Jonathan  the  son  of  Saul.  But  the  king  took  the  two 
sons  of  Rizpah  the  daughter  of  Aiah,  whom  she  bare 

3.  the  inheritance  of  the  IiOBD  :  the  people  of  Israel  as 
xiv.  16,  XX.  19  ;  I  Sam.  x.  i  ;  xxvi.  19,  where  see  note. 

4.  The  Gibeonites  reply  (i)  that  there  can  be  no  question  of 
blood-money  as  compensation  for  the  blood  that  Saul  had  shed  (for 
the  wergild  among  the  early  Hebrews,  see  Driver,  Dexit.  234)  ; 
(2)  that,  as  Amorites,  they  have  no  locus  standi  entitling  them 
to  execute  blood-revenge  against  the  Israelite  house  of  Saul. 
Therefore,  they  hint,  the  king  as  the  supreme  justiciar  must 
intervene.  David  understood  the  hint,  and  in  verse  5  the  Gibeon- 
ites formulate  their  demand. 

6.  we  will  hang-  them  up  unto  the  LORD  :  the  precise  form 
of  execution  denoted  by  the  obscure  verb  of  the  original  is  un- 
known. It  was  certainly  not  death  by  strangulation  as  in  xvii.  3. 
Probably  some  form  of  impalement  is  intended.  See  further  on 
verse  9,  also  Gray  on  Num.  xxv.  4  (Intern.  Crit.  Comm.)  the  only 
other  occurrence  of  the  word  in  question. 

in  G-iheah  of  Saul,  the  chosen  of  the  IiORD :  read,  '  in  Gibeon 
(LXX),  in  the  hill  of  Yahweh,'  the  consonants  of  which  greatly 
resemble  those  of  the  received  text.  The  site  of  the  execution 
was  beside  '  the  great  high  place'  (i  Kings  iii.  4)  of  Gibeon. 

7.  If  not  a  gloss  (so  Budde)  this  verse  points  to  a  different 
source  for  ch,  xxi  from  that  of  ch.  ix  (C).     Cf.  on  verse  12. 

8.  Rizpah  has  been  already  introduced  iii.  7. 


II   SAMUEL  21.  9-13.     Z  299 

unto  Saul,  Armoni  and  Mephibosheth ;  and  the  five  sons 
of  Michal  the  daughter  of  Saul,  whom  she  bare  to  Adriel 
the  son  of  Barzillai  the  Meholathite  :  and  he  delivered  9 
them  into  the  hands  of  the  Gibeonites,  and  they  hanged 
them  in  the  mountain  before  the  Lord,  and  they  fell  all 
seven  together :  and  they  were  put  to  death  in  the  days 
of  harvest,  in  the  first  days,  at  the  beginning  of  barley 
harvest.     And  Rizpah  the  daughter  of  Aiah  took  sack-  10 
cloth,  and  spread  it  for  her  upon  the  rock,  from  the 
beginning  of  harvest  until  water  was  poured  upon  them 
from  heaven ;  and  she  suffered  neither  the  birds  of  the 
air  to  rest  on  them  by  day,  nor  the  beasts  of  the  field  by 
night.     And  it  was  told  David  what  Rizpah  the  daughter  ii 
of  Aiah,  the  concubine  of  Saul,  had  done.     And  David  12 
went  and   took  the  bones  of  Saul   and  the  bones  of 
Jonathan  his  son  from  the  men  of  Jabesh-gilead,  which 
had  stolen  them  from  the  street  of  Beth-shan,  where  the 
Philistines    had   hanged    them,    in   the    day   that    the 
Philistines  slew  Saul  in  Gilboa  :  and  he  brought  up  from  13 


Michal:  a  slip  for '  Merab '  (so  Lucian  and  the  Syriac  version), 
see  on  i  Sam.  xviii.  19. 

9.  they  fell  all  seven  together :  in  the  sense  of  *  they 
perished'  with  the  implication,  ns  always,  of  a  violent  death 
i^BDB.,  Heb.  Lex.  657=^).  W.  R.  Smith,  taking  the  words  in 
a  literal  sense,  has  suggested  that  the  seven  were  hurled  from 
a  precipice  {Rel.  Scni.'^,  4i9)r  hut  lor  this  a  different  expression 
from  that  in  verse  6  is  used  in  2  Chron.  xxv.  12.  The  time  of 
year  was  about  the  latter  half  of  April,  so  that  for  six  weary 
months  Rizpah  watched  by  her  dead  until  the  October  rains 
began  to  fall,  showing  that  Yahweh  had  accepted  the  expiation 
and  was  once  more  gracious  to  His  land  (verse  14).  By  her 
devotion,  which  artist  and  poet  have  vied  in  commemorating, 
she  was  able  to  obtain  burial  for  her  sons,  without  which  they 
would  have  been  debarred  from  the  life— such  as  it  was — in 
Sheol. 

12.  from  the  street  of  Beth-shan:  if  this  is  not  a  variant 
tradition  the  expression  is  to  be  explained  as  on  i  Sam.  xxxi.  12. 


300  II   SAMUEL  21.  14-17.     Z 

thence  the  bones  of  Saul  and  the  bones  of  Jonathan  his 
son ;  and  they  gathered  the  bones  of  them  that  were 

14  hanged.  And  they  buried  the  bones  of  Saul  and 
Jonathan  his  son  in  the  country  of  Benjamin  in  Zela,  in 
the  sepulchre  of  Kish  his  father  :  and  they  performed  all 
that  the  king  commanded.  And  after  that  God  was 
intreated  for  the  land. 

15  And  the  Philistines  had  war  again  with  Israel;  and 
David  went  down,  and  his  servants  with  him,  and  fought 

16  against  the  Philistines :  and  David  waxed  faint.  And 
Ishbi-benob,  which  was  of  the  sons  of  the  giant,  the 
weight  of  whose  spear  was  three  hundred  shekels  of  brass 
in  weight,  he  being  girded  with  a  new  sivord,  thought  to 

17  have  slain  David.  But  Abishai  the  son  of  Zeruiah 
succoured  him,  and  smote  the  Phihstine,  and  killed  him. 

14.  Zela,  also  Joshua  viii.  28,  has  not  been  identified.  The 
family  burying-place  was  not  in  Gibeah. 

(b)  xxi.  15-22.     A  series  of  exploits  against  the  Philistines. 

This  section  is  entirely  of  a  piece  with  xxiii.  8ff.,  from  which  it 
is  now  separated  by  the  two  poems  that  follow.  Both  sections 
may  originally  have  stood  in  some  connexion  with  the  two  brief 
accounts  of  David's  early  struggles  with  the  Philistines^  which 
now  stand  in  v.  17-25, 

15-17.  David's  narrow  escape  at  Gob.  His  head  quarters  were 
still  presumably  at  Hebron  :   see  on  v.  17. 

and  David  waxed  faint.  And  Ishbi-benob,  &c.  :  the  text 
shows  deep-seated  corruption  (see  Driver  and  H.  P.  Smith).  The 
original  may  have  run  as  follows  :  'and  David  went  down  and  his 
servants  with  him  and  dwelt  in  Gob  (an  unknown  locality),  and 

they  fought  with  the  Philistines.  Then  arose (a  name  no  longer 

recoverable),  who  was  of  the  sons  of  the  giants,'  &c. 

16.  the  sons  of  the  g'iant  (Heb.  '  the  Raphah,*  as  margin) : 
or  '  of  the  giants,'  taking  the  singular  in  a  collective  sense.  For 
the  Rephaim,  the  remains  of  a  prehistoric  population  of  abnormal 
stature,  see  the  Bible  dictionaries. 

the  weight  of  whose  spear :  read;  *  of  whose  helmet '  (so 
Klostermann,  Budde)  as  i  Sara.  xvii.  5. 

three  hundred  shekels  of  brass :  about  13  lbs.  avoir.,  see  on 
I  Sam.  loc,  cif.     Delete  in  weigfht,  a  corruption  of  'shekel.* 


II   SAMUEL  21.  18-20.     Z  301 

Then  the  men  of  David  sware  unto  him,  saying,  Thou 
shalt  go  no  more  out  with  us  to  battle,  that  thou  quench 
not  the  lamp  of  Israel. 

And  it  came  to  pass  after  this,  that  there  was  again  18 
war  with   the   Philistines   at  Gob :    then   Sibbecai   the 
Hushathite  slew  Saph,  which  was  of  the  sons  of  the  giant. 
And  there  was  again  war  with  the  Philistines  at  Gob ;  19 
and  Elhanan  the  son  of  Jaare-oregim  the  Beth-lehemite 
slew  Goliath  the  Gittite,  the  staff  of  whose  spear  was  like 
a  weaver's  beam.     And  there  was  again  war  at  Gath,  20 
where  was  a  man  of  great  stature,  that  had  on  every  hand 

18.  Another  exploit  at  Gol),  for  which  the  Chronicler  hasGezer 
(r  Chron.  xx.  4),  the  Greek  and  Syrian  versions  Gath. 

Sibbecai  tbe  Hnsbatliite  :  a  member  of  a  Beth-lehemite  clan 
(i  Chron.  iv.  4). 

19.  This  verse  has  attracted  much  attention  on  account  of  the 
variant  tradition  which  it  contains  regarding  the  slayer  of  Goliath. 
No  unbiassed  textual  critic  can  escape  the  conclusion  that  the  true 
reading  here  is  :  'and  Elhanan  the  son  of  Jair,  the  Beth-lehemite, 
slew  Goliath  the  Gittite,'  Jaare-oreefim,  'woods  of  weavers,'  is 
frankly  nonsense  ;  *  weavers*  has  come  in  from  the  line  below,  and 
'  Jaare '  is  of  course  a  corruption  of  Jair  who  appears  in  the 
parallel  passage  i  Chron.  xx.  5.  There  we  read  that  '  Elhanan 
the  son  of  Jair  slew  Lahmi  [a  corruption  of  Beth-M^/7;/te],  the 
brother  of  Goliath  the  Gittite ' — an  evident  endeavour  to  get  rid  of 
the  discrepancy  between  our  passage  and  the  received  text  of 
I  Sam.  xvii  (where  see  notes  for  the  conjecture  that  there  originally 
the  Philistine  giant  was  anonymous).  An  appeal  to  the  historical 
critic,  further,  gives  the  result  that  a  statement  standing  in 
a  fragment  of  an  early  narrative — for  though  the  section  before 
us  was  inserted  later  into  the  Book  of  Samuel  it  contains  ancient 
material — attributing  a  certain  exploit  to  an  obscure  individual,  is 
more  likely  to  represent  the  actual  facts  of  the  case  than  a  statement 
elsewhere  describing  the  same  exploit  as  the  youthful  adventure 
of  the  most  popular  hero  of  his  time.  (See  Cheyne's  detailed 
treatment  in  Aids  to  the  devmit  Study  of  Criticism,  80  ff.,  125  f.) 
The  present  writer's  solution  of  the  difficulty  has  been  indicated 
above,  and  more  fully  in  the  notes  on  the  earlier  chapter. 

a  weaver's  beam :  see  on  i  Sam.  xvii.  7. 
20  f.  A  fourth  adventure,  the  scene  of  which  was  Gath.     For 
the  variant  forms  of  the  name  Shimei  see  the  margin.     Jonathan 


302  II   SAMUEL   21.  21— 22.  4.     Z 

six  fingers,  and  on  every  foot  six  toes,  four  and  twenty  in 

21  number  ;  and  he  also  was  born  to  the  giant.  And  when 
he  defied  Israel,  Jonathan  the  son  of  Shimei  David's 

22  brother  slew  him.  These  four  were  born  to  the  giant  in 
Gath ;  and  they  fell  by  the  hand  of  David,  and  by  the 
hand  of  his  servants. 

22  And  David  spake  unto  the  Lord  the  words  of  this 
song  in  the  day  that  the  Lord  delivered  him  out  of  the 
hand  of  all  his  enemies,  and  out  of  the  hand  of  Saul : 

2  and  he  said, 

The  Lord  is  my  rock,  and  my  fortress,  and  my 
deliverer,  even  mine ; 

3  The  God  of  my  rock,  in  him  will  I  trust ; 

My  shield,  and  the  horn  of  my  salvation,  my  high 

tower,  and  my  refuge ; 
My  saviour,  thou  savest  me  from  violence. 

4  I  will  call  upon  the  Lord,  who  is  worthy  to  be 

praised : 
So  shall  I  be  saved  from  mine  enemies. 

is  apparently  the  'brother's  son'  whose  wisdom  is  noted  in  i  Chron. 
xxvii.  32  (R.  V.  marg.), 

(c)  xxii.     David's  Thanksgiving  Hymn. 

More  favoured  than  the  Song  of  Hannah  (i  Sam.  ii.  i  flf.), 
which  we  found  to  differ  in  no  respect  from  a  typical  psalm,  this 
great  religious  poem  was  received  into  the  earliest  of  the  three 
collections  of  '  sacred  songs '  which  compose  the  Book  of  Psalms. 
There  it  now  appears,  with  some  unimportant  variations,  as 
Ps.  xviii.  Following  the  precedent  of  Driver,  Smith,  and  Budde 
in  their  commentaries  on  Samuel,  we  propose  to  refer  the  student 
to  the  excellent  notes  by  Professor  Davison  in  his  commentary 
on  the  Psalms  in  this  series  (the  Century  Bible).  The  present 
writer,  however,  does  not  feel  able  to  go  so  far  as  this  scholar  in 
the  direction  of  a  'probable  Davidic  authorship'  (Ps.  xcviii), 
holding  that  the  Davidic  element — if  such  there  be — has  now  been 
so  overlaid  by  the  thoughts  of  a  later  poet  or  poets  as  to  be  no 
longer  distinguishable  from  them.  This  being  so,  it  remains 
doubtful  whether  it  would  not  be  more  scientific  frankly  to  assign 
the  whole  poem  to  a  later  age. 


II   SAMUEL  22.  5-18.     Z  303 

For  the  waves  of  death  compassed  me,  5 

The  floods  of  ungodliness  made  me  afraid. 

The  cords  of  Sheol  were  round  about  me :  6 

The  snares  of  death  came  upon  me. 

In  my  distress  I  called  upon  the  Lord,  7 

Yea,  I  called  unto  my  God  : 

And  he  heard  my  voice  out  of  his  temple, 

And  my  cry  came  into  his  ears. 

Then  the  earth  shook  and  trembled,  8 

The  foundations  of  heaven  moved 

And  were  shaken,  because  he  was  wroth. 

There  went  up  a  smoke  out  of  his  nostrils,  9 

And  fire  out  of  his  mouth  devoured  : 

Coals  were  kindled  by  it. 

He  bowed  the  heavens  also^  and  came  down ;  10 

And  thick  darkness  was  under  his  feet. 

And  he  rode  upon  a  cherub,  and  did  fly :  11 

Yea,  he  was  seen  upon  the  wings  of  the  wind. 

And  he  made  darkness  pavilions  round  about  him,    12 

Gathering  of  waters,  thick  clouds  of  the  skies. 

At  the  brightness  before  him  13 

Coals  of  fire  were  kindled. 

The  Lord  thundered  from  heaven,  14 

And  the  Most  High  uttered  his  voice. 

And  he  sent  out  arrows,  and  scattered  them;  15 

Lightning,  and  discomfited  them. 

Then  the  channels  of  the  sea  appeared,  16 

The  foundations  of  the  world  were  laid  bare, 

By  the  rebuke  of  the  Lord, 

At  the  blast  of  the  breath  of  his  nostrils. 

He  sent  from  on  high,  he  took  me ;  17 

He  drew  me  out  of  many  waters  ; 

He  delivered  me  from  my  strong  enemy,  18 


304  II  SAMUEL  22.  19-31.     Z 

From  them  that  hated  me ;  for  they  were  too  mighty 
for  me. 

19  They  came  upon  me  in  the  day  of  my  calamity  : 
But  the  Lord  was  my  stay. 

20  He  brought  me  forth  also  into  a  large  place : 
He  delivered  me,  because  he  delighted  in  me. 

21  The  Lord  rewarded  me  according  to  my  righteous- 

ness : 
According  to  the  cleanness  of  my  hands  hath  he 
recompensed  me. 
23  For  I  have  kept  the  ways  of  the  Lord, 

And  have  not  wickedly  departed  from  my  God. 
23  For  all  his  judgements  were  before  me  : 

And  as  for  his  statutes,  I  did  not  depart  from  them. 
2 A  I  was  also  perfect  toward  him, 

And  I  kept  myself  from  mine  iniquity. 

25  Therefore  hath  the  Lord  recompensed  me  accord- 

ing to  my  righteousness ; 
According  to  my  cleanness  in  his  eyesight. 

26  With  the  merciful  thou  wilt  shew  thyself  merciful, 
With  the  perfect  man  thou  wilt  shew  thyself  perfect ; 

27  With  the  pure  thou  wilt  shew  thyself  pure ; 

And  with  the  perverse  thou  wilt  shew  thyself  froward. 

28  And  the  afflicted  people  thou  wilt  save  : 

But  thine  eyes  are  upon  the  haughty,   that  thou 
mayest  bring  them  down. 

29  For  thou  art  my  lamp,  O  Lord  : 

And  the  Lord  will  lighten  my  darkness. 

30  For  by  thee  I  run  upon  a  troop : 
By  my  God  do  I  leap  over  a  wall. 

3?  As  for  God,  his  way  is  perfect : 

The  word  of  the  Lord  is  tried  ; 
He  is  a  shield  unto  all  them  that  trust  in  him. 


II   SAMUEL  22.  32-44.     Z  305 

For  who  is  God,  save  the  Lord  ?  32 

And  who  is  a  rock,  save  our  God  ? 

God  is  my  strong  fortress  :  33 

And  he  guideth  the  perfect  in  his  way. 

He  maketh  his  feet  hke  hinds'y^^/:  34 

And  setteth  me  upon  my  high  places. 

He  teacheth  my  hands  to  war ;  35 

So  that  mine  arms  do  bend  a  bow  of  brass. 

Thou  hast  also  given  me  the  shield  of  thy  salvation  :  36 

And  thy  gentleness  hath  made  me  great. 

Thou  hast  enlarged  my  steps  under  me,  37 

And  my  feet  have  not  slipped. 

I  have  pursued  mine  enemies,  and  destroyed  them ;  38 

Neither  did  I  turn  again  till  they  were  consumed 

And  I  have   consumed   them,  and  smitten   them  39 

through,  that  they  cannot  arise  : 
Yea,  they  are  fallen  under  my  feet. 
For  thou  hast  girded  me  with  strength  unto  the  40 

battle : 
Thou  hast  subdued  under  me  those  that  rose  up 

against  me. 
Thou  hast  also  made  mine  enemies  turn  their  backs  41 

unto  me. 
That  I  might  cut  off  them  that  hate  me. 
They  looked,  but  there  was  none  to  save ;  42 

Even  unto  the  Lord,  but  he  answered  them  not. 
Then  did  I  beat  them  small  as  the  dust  of  the  earth,  43 
I  did  stamp  them  as  the  mire  of  the  streets,  and  did 

spread  them  abroad. 
Thou  also  hast  delivered  me  from  the  strivings  of  44 

my  people ; 
Thou  hast  kept  me  to  be  the  head  of  the  nations : 
A  people  whom  I  have  not  known  shall  serve  me. 

X 


3o6  II   SAMUEL  22!  45—23.  i.     Z 

45.  The  strangers  shall  submit  themselves  unto  me : 
As  soon  as  they  hear  of  me,  they  shall  obey  me. 

46.  The  strangers  shall  fade  away, 

And  shall  come  trembling  out  of  their  close  places. 
47  The  Lord  liveth ;  and  blessed  be  my  rock ; 

And  exalted  be  the  God  of  the  rock  of  my  salvation  : 
48^         Even  the  God  that  executeth  vengeance  for  me, 

And  bringeth  down  peoples  under  me, 

49  And  that  bringeth  me  forth  from  mine  enemies  : 
Yea,  thou  liftest  me  up  above  them  that  rise  up 

against  me : 
Thou  deliverest  me  from  the  violent  man. 

50  Therefore  I  will  give  thanks  unto  thee,  O  Lord, 

among  the  nations, 
And  will  sing  praises  unto  thy  name. 

51  Great  deliverance  giveth  he  to  his  king : 
And  sheweth  lovingkindness  to  his  anointed, 
To  David  and  to  his  seed,  for  evermore. 

23  Now  these  be  the  last  words  of  David. 

(d)  xxiii.   1-7.     David^s  '  Last  Words.^ 

The  second  of  the  poetical  insertions  in  this  appendix  is  of  the 
nature  of  a  testament,  such  as  Hebrew  poets,  down  to  the  fall  of 
the  Jewish  state,  loved  to  put  into  the  mouth  of  the  dying  heroes 
of  the  past.  The  so-called  blessings  of  Jacob  (Gen.  xUx)  and 
Moses  (Deut.  xxxiii)  at  once  suggest  themselves  as  models  from 
the  earlier,  the  *  Testaments '  of  the  Twelve  Patriarchs  as  illustra- 
tions from  the  later,  period  of  Hebrew  literature.  Of  Davidic 
authorship  there  can  be  no  question  in  this  case.  The  text  has 
suffered  greatly  in  transmission,  especially  towards  the  end.  The 
Versions  give  little  help,  since  '  they  differ  extraordinarily  in  their 
understanding  of  the  Psalm,  and  their  apprehension  is  usually 
misapprehension  *  (H.  P.  Smith).  The  first  two  stanzas  or 
quatrains  are  of  an  introductory  character. 

1.  Now  these  .  .  .  David:  an  introduction  fn  prose  by  the 
editor  who  inserted  the  poem,  which  begins  : 

Oracle  of  David  the  son  of  Jesse, 
Oracle  of  the  man  set  on  high. 


II   SAMUEL  23.  2-4.     Z  307 

David  the  son  of  Jesse  saith, 

And  the  man  who  was  raised  on  high  saith, 

The  anointed  of  the  God  of  Jacob, 

And  the  sweet  psalmist  of  Israel : 

The  spirit  of  the  Lord  spake  by  me,  2 

And  his  word  was  upon  my  tongue. 

The  God  of  Israel  said,  3 

The  Rock  of  Israel  spake  to  me  : 

One  that  ruleth  over  men  righteously, 

That  ruleth  in  the  fear  of  God, 

He  shall  be  as  the  light  of  the  morning,  when  the  4 

sun  riseth, 
A  morning  without  clouds  ; 
When  the  tender  grass  sprtngetk  out  of  the  earth, 
Through  clear  shining  after  rain. 


For  similar  openings  see  Num.  xxiv.  3,  15,  two  'oracles'  of 
Balaam,  and  Prov.  xxxi.  The  second  distich  expands  the  thought 
conveyed  by  'set  on  high.'  David  has  been  greatly  honoured 
botli  by  God  and  man,  for  he  is 

The  anointed  of  Jacob's  God, 
The  darling  of  Israel's  songs. 

the  sweet  psalmist  of  Israel :  a  rendering  open  to  grave 
suspicion  (see,  however,  BDB.,  Heb.  Lex.  654*).  There  seems 
no  reason  for  departing  from  the  usual  connotation  of  the  crucial 
word  in  the  line  (note  R.V.  marg.),  which  in  i.  23  and  Cant.  i.  16 
is  used  as  a  synonym  of  '  beloved ' — the  '  beloved  '  or  *  the  darling 
of  the  songs  (or  melodies)  of  Israel ' — a  rendering  altogether  more 
suitable  to  the  parallelism. 

2,  3*.  A  second  quatrain  in  which  David  is  represented  as 
claiming  the  inspiration  of  a  prophet  as  the  mouthpiece  of  Yahweh 
(cf.  Exod.  iv.  16,  vii.  i), 

3  ^,  4.  A  five-line  stanza  giving  the  kernel  of  the  oracle  in 
praise  of  the  ideal  ruler» 

4.  Render  : 

Like  the  morning  light  shall  he  rise, 

(Like)  the  sun  of  a  cloudless  morn, 

Making  the  grass  to  spring  (?)  from  the  earth  (after  rain  ?). 

The  rendering  of  the  last  Une,  which  in  the  original  has  a  word 

X  2 


3o8  II   SAMUEL  23.  5-B.     Z 

Verily  my  house  is  not  so  with  God ; 

Yet  he  hath  made  with  me  an  everlasting  covenant, 

Ordered  in  all  things,  and  sure  : 

For  it  is  all  my  salvation,  and  all  my  desire, 

Although  he  maketh  it  not  to  grow. 

But  the  ungodly  shall  be  all  of  them  as  thorns  to  be 

thrust  away. 
For  they  cannot  be  taken  with  the  hand  : 
But  the  man  that  toucheth  them 
Must  be  armed  with  iron  and  the  staff  of  a  spear ; 
And  they  shall  be  utterly  burned  with  fire  in  their 
place. 
These  be  the  names  of  the  mighty  men  whom  David 

too  many  for  the  metre,  is  quite  uncertain.  For  the  probable 
thought  see  Ps.  Ixxii.  6,  where  the  ideal  ruler  is  compared  to 
*  showers  that  water  the  earth.' 

5.  A  quatrain  in  which  David  recalls  the  Divine  promise  of 
the  permanence  of  his  dynasty  (vii.  11  ff.,  16).  The  margin  shows 
the  straits  to  which  the  Revisers  were  reduced  with  the  traditional 
text,  the  first  and  fourth  lines,  in  particular,  being  no  longer 
intelligible  in  their  present  form.  The  first  should  probably 
read  :  *  Established  is  my  house  with  God '  (Nestle),  for  which 
see  vii.  16,  26.  For  the  fourth  line  we  may  adopt  Smith's  con- 
jecture :  *  For  all  my  delight  is  in  him.'  The  closing  words  of  the 
received  text  will  then  belong  to  the  following  stanza  as  in  codex 
B  of  the  LXX. 

6  f.  Here  the  original  becomes  still  more  corrupt.  The  student 
is  referred  to  Driver's  Notes,  and  the  larger  commentaries  for 
more  or  less  plausible  emendations. 

{e)  xxiii.  8-39.     The  members  of  David's  two  orders  of  knighthood. 

The  remainder  of  this  chapter  is  occupied  with  a  list  of  the 
members  of  two  orders  pour  le  me'rite,  the  order  of  the  Three,  and 
the  order  of  the  Thirty.  The  honour  of  admission  to  these  orders, 
especially  to  the  order  of  the  Three,  seems,  like  our  own  Victoria 
Cross,  to  have  been  gained  by  conspicuous  bravery  in  the  face  of 
the  enemy.  Owing  to  the  similarity  of  the  Hebrew  words  for 
'three'  and  'thirty,'  and  to  the  ignorance  of  copyists  as  to  the 
true  significance  of  the  lists,  these  are  now  in  some  confusion, 
and  the  names  both  of  persons  and  of  places  are  frequently 
corrupt.     The  list  as  a  whole  is  repeated  in  1  Chron.  xi.  11-41* 


II   SAMUEL  23.  9,  to.     Z  309 

had  :  Josheb-basshebelh  a  Tahchemonite,  chief  of  the 
captains ;  the  same  was  Adino  the  Eznite,  against  eight 
hundred  slain  at  one  time.  And  after  him  was  Eleazar  9 
the  son  of  Dodai  the  son  of  an  Ahohite,  one  of  the  three 
mighty  men  with  David,  when  they  defied  the  Philistines 
that  were  there  gathered  together  to  battle,  and  the  men 
of  Israel  were  gone  away  :  he  arose,  and  smote  the  10 
Philistines  until  his  hand  was  weary,  and  his  hand  clave 
unto  the  sword  :  and  the  Lord  wrought  a  great  victory 
that  day  ;  and  the  people  returned  after  him  only  to 


and  in  part  in  i  Chron.  xxvii.  2-15  (see  Driver's  arrangement  in 
parallel  columns,  Notes  278  f.). 

xxiii.   8-12.      The  Order  of  the  Three. 

To  this,  the  higher  order,  belonged  Ish-baal,  the  'chief  of  the 
Three,'  Eleazar  and  Shammah.    Joab  is  conspicuous  by  his  absence. 

8.  Josheb-basshebeth  a  Tahchemonite  :  these  names  are  not 
'  probably,'  as  the  margin  has  it,  but  most  certainly  corrupt.  The 
first  is  a  disfigured  form  of  Ish-bosheth  (so  the  LXX),  itself  a  dis- 
guise for  Ish-baal  (see  on  ii.  8)  ;  the  second  should  be  read  *  the 
Hachmonite '  (cf.  i  Chron.  xi.  ir,  xxvii.  32). 

chief  of  the  captains  :  the  last  \vord  is  very  uncertain. 
Lucian  read  ''chief  of  the  Three,'  which  gives  an  excellent  sense. 
In  other  words,  Ish-baal  was  the  commander  of  the  order. 

the  same  was  Adino  the  Eznite  :  a  curious  corruption  either 
of  'he  lifted  up,' or  rather  'he  wielded  his  spear,"  as  in  the  parallel 
text  of  Chronicles  (cf.  verse  18  below),  or  of  '  he  wielded  his  axe 
(Marquardt,  Budde,  which  is  nearer  the  received  text)  against 
eight  hundred,'  &c.  This  remarkable  feat  of  arms  procured 
Ish-baal  his  admission  into  the  order. 

9.  The  second  member  of  the  Three  was  Eleazar,  the  son  of 
Dodai  i^or  Dodo,  see  on  i  Sam.  xvi.  13)  the  Ahohite — so  read 
with  Chronicles. 

with  David  when  they  defied,  &c. :  read,  with  Chron.,  *  he 
was  with  David  at  Pas-dammim,  when  the  Philistines  were 
gathered  together  there  to  battle.'  The  place  is  called  Ephes- 
dammim  in  i  Sam.  xvii.  17.  The  last  clause  belongs  to  the  next 
verse. 

10.  Read  :  *  And  when  the  men  of  Israel  ...  he  arose,'  8ic, 
H.  P.  Smith  cites,  from  Dought3''3  Arabia  Deseria,  ii.  28,  an 
interesting  modern  parallel  to  this  feat. 


3IO  II   SAMUEL  23.  11-16.     Z 

11  spoil.  And  after  him  was  Shammah  the  son  of  Agee 
a  Hararite.  And  the  Philistines  were  gathered  together 
into  a  troop,  where  was  a  plot  of  ground  full  of  lentils ; 

12  and  the  people  fled  from  the  Philistines.  But  he  stood 
in  the  midst  of  the  plot,  and  defended  it,  and  slew  the 

13  Philistines :  and  the  Lord  wrought  a  great  victory.  And 
three  of  the  thirty  chief  went  down,  and  came  to  David 
in  the  harvest  time  unto  the  cave  of  Adullam ;  and  the 
troop  of  the   Philistines  were  encamped  in  the  valley 

14  of  Rephaim.     And  David  was  then  in  the  hold,  and  the 

15  garrison  of  the  Philistines  was  then  in  Beth-lehem.  And 
David  longed,  and  said,  Oh  that  one  would  give  me 
water  to  drink  of  the  well  of  Beth-lehem,  which  is  by  the 

16  gate  !    And  the  three  mighty  men  brake  through  the 

11.  The  third  member  was  Shammah  the  son  of  Agee,  the 
scene  of  whose  adventure  was  '  at  Lehi '  (Judges  xv.  9) — so  read 
for  into  a  troop. 

xxiii.  13-17^.     An  act  of  devotion  of  three  of  the  Thirty  to  David. 

The  famous  episode  of  the  water  from  the  well  of  Beth-lehem, 
loosely  connected  with  what  precedes  and  follows,  owes  its 
place  here  apparently  to  the  opinion  of  an  editor  that  the  three 
paladins  of  the  well  were  the  three  heroes  above  commemorated. 
Its  proper  place  is  after  the  Thirty  have  been  enumerated, 

13.  The  word  '■  chief  is  wanting  in  the  best  texts  of  LXX,  and 
is  unnecessary.  In  the  harvest  time  is  an  attempt  to  render 
two  words  of  which  the  first  is  '  unto '  and  the  second  something 
which  the  Chronicler  read  as  *  the  rock.'  For  unto  the  cave  read 
*to  the  hold,'  or  fortress  of  Adullam  (see  on  i  Sam.  xxii.  i,  and 
2  Sam.  V.  18). 

ISflf.  The  adventure  that  follows  has  in  all  ages  appealed  to 
the  generous  instincts  of  humanity.  David  longs  for  a  draught 
from  the  well  of  his  boyhood !  Through  the  Philistine  army 
encamped  in  the  valley  of  Rephaim  (see  on  v.  18)  the  three 
heroes  cut  their  way  into  the  town  of  Beth-lehem,  and  having 
drawn  the  water  return  as  they  went.  But  the  self-sacrifice  of 
'the  dauntless  three,'  who  took  their  life  in  their  hand  for  love  of 
their  king,  had  in  his  eyes  changed  the  water  into  blood.  As  blood 
it  belonged  to  God,  and  so  was  poured  out  as  an  offering  to  the 
King  of  kings. 


II   SAMUEL  23.  17-20.     Z  311 

host  of  the  Phih'stines,  and  drew  water  out  of  the  well 
of  Beth-lehem,  that  was  by  the  gate,  and  took  it,  and 
brought  it  to  David :  but  he  would  not  drink  thereof, 
but  poured  it  out  unto  the  Lord.     And  he  said.  Be  17 
it  far  from  me,  O  Lord,  that  I  should  do  this  :  shall  I 
drink  the  blood  of  the  men  that  went  in  jeopardy  of 
their  lives?   therefore  he  would  not  drink  it.      These 
things  did  the  three  mighty  men.     And  Abishai,   the  18 
brother  of  Joab,  the  son  of  Zeruiah,  was  chief  of  the 
three.     And  he  lifted  up  his  spear  against  three  hundred 
and  slew  them,  and  had  a  name  among  the  three.     Was  19 
he  not  most  honourable  of  the  three  ?  therefore  he  was 
made  their  captain :  howbeit  he  attained  not  unto  the 
first  three.     And  Benaiah  the  son  of  Jehoiada,  the  son  20 
of  a  valiant  man  of  Kabzeel,  who  had  done  mighty  deeds, 


17.  The  last  sentence  is  rather  the  conclusion  of  the  narrative 
of  the  achievements  of  the  three  in  verses  8-12,  another  indication 
that  13-17'^  has  got  displaced. 

xxiii.  18-23.      ^'^'^  achievements  of  Abishai  and  Benaiah. 

Between  the  story  of  the  Three  and  the  list  of  the  Thirty  of 
whom  no  special  deeds  of  heroism  are  recorded  the  author  inserts 
an  eulogium  of  Abishai,  the  chief  or  commander  of  the  order  of 
the  Thirty,  and  of  Benaiah  the  most  distinguished  ordinary 
member  of  that  body. 

18.  chief  of  the  three:  read,  *  chief  of  the  Thirty,'  with  the 
Syriac  and  all  moderns.  Abishai's  achievement  was  considerably 
below  that  of  the  real  chief  of  the  Three  (verse  8). 

and  had  a  name  among'  the  three :  the  author  cannot  have 
thus  contradicted  himself  (see  verse  19  end}.  We  should  read, 
with  Smith  and  Budde,  'so  he  gat  himself  a  name  like  that  of  the 
three.' 

19.  Read  :  'behold,  he  was  more  honourable  than  the  Thirty 
(so  I  Chron.  xi.  25  R.  V.),  and  became  their  captain,  but  unto  the 
Three  did  he  not  attain.' 

20.  The  text  of  the  description  of  Benaiah  is  very  uncertain. 
Read,  perhaps,  'a  man  of  valour,  and  a  man  of  many  achievements, 
a  native  of  Kabzeel.'  This  last  was  a  southern  town  on  the  bor- 
der of  Edom  (Josh.  xv.  21), 


312  II   SAMUEL  23.  21-24.     Z 

he  slew  the  two  sotis  ^  Ariel  of  Moab:  he  went  down 
also  and  slew  a  lion  in  the  midst  of  a  pit  in  time  of  snow : 

21  and  he  slew  an  Egyptian,  a  goodly  man  :  and  the  Egypt- 
ian had  a  spear  in  his  hand ;  but  he  went  down  to  him 
with  a  staff,  and  plucked  the  spear  out  of  the  Egyptian's 

22  hand,  and  slew  him  with  his  own  spear.  These  things 
did  Benaiah   the   son   of  Jehoiada,   and   had  a  name 

2.5  among  the  three  mighty  men.  He  was  more  honourable 
than  the  thirty,  but  he  attained  not  to  the  first  three. 
And  David  set  him  over  his  guard. 

24      Asahel  the  brother  of  Joab  was  one  of  the  thirty; 

he  slew  the  two  sons  of  Ariel  of  Moab  :  the  Revisers  have 
adopted  the  Greek  text,  the  Hebrew  lacking  the  word  for  'sons 
of  (cf.  A.  V.  'two  lion-like  men  of  Moab').  Of  the  various  at- 
tempts to  recover  the  original  form  of  the  sentence,  Klostermann's 
has  at  least  the  merit  of  simplicity.  Starting  from  the  Greek  text, 
as  above,  he  obtains  by  a  slight  emendation  :  '  he  slew  the  two 
young  lions  [lit.  sons  of  the  lion)  in  their  lair,  after  he  had  gone 
down  and  slain  the  lion  (himself)  in  the  midst  of  a  pit,'  &c.  The 
mention  of  the  time  of  snow  suggests  the  means  by  which  the 
lions  were  tracked. 

21.  a  groodly  man  :  read,  a  man  of  great  stature,'  with  the 
Chronicler  (i  Chron.  xi.  23),  who  adds  the  popular  comparison  of 
the  Egyptian's  spear  to  '  a  weaver's  beam '  (see  i  Sam.  xvii.  7, 
2  Sam.  xxi.  19). 

22  f.  This  eulogy  of  Benaiah  has  to  be  emended  as  in  verses  18  f. 
It  has  been  suggested  that  these  two  heroes,  Abishai  and  Benaiah, 
were  in  modern  phrase  gazetted  for  promotion  to  the  order  of  the 
Three  when  a  vacancy  should  occur. 

23.  over  his  g'uard:  the  royal  bodyguard,  composed  of  the 
foreign  mercenaries,  the  Cherethites  and  the  Pelethites  (viii.  18, 
XX.  23). 

xxiii.  24-39.      The  members  of  the  Order  of  the  Thirty. 

The  fact  that  the  first  on  the  list  is  the  youngest  of  the  three 
sons  of  Zeruiah,  who  was  slain  by  Abner  (ii.  18  ft".)  while  David 
was  still  in  Hebron,  shows  that  these  orders  were  instituted  very 
early  in  David's  reign.  It  also  suggests  that  the  vacancies  were 
filled  up  from  time  to  time  by  other  candidates,  which  is  probably 
the  explanation  of  the  fact  that  considerably  over  thirty  names  are 
given  in  the  list  that  follows.  Few  of  these  knights  are  mentioned 
elsewhere. 


II    SAMUEL  23.  2i5— 24.  i.     Z 


oM 


Elhanan  the  son  of  Dodo  of  Beth-lehem ;  Shammah  the  25 
Harodite,  Ehka  the  Harodite ;  Helez  the  Paltite,  Ira  the  26 
son  of  Ikkesh  the  Tekoite  ;  Abiezer  the  Anathothite,  27 
Mebunnai  the  Hushathite  ;  Zalmon  the  Ahohite,  Maharai  28 
the  Netophathite;  Heleb  the  son  of  Baanah  the  Neto-  29 
phathite,  Ittai  the  son  of  Ribai  of  Gibeah  of  the  children 
of  Benjamin ;  Benaiah  a  Pirathonite,  Hiddai  of  the  3^ 
brooks  of  Gaash;  Abi-albon  the  Arbathite,  Azmaveth  3^ 
the  Barhumite ;  Ehahba  the  Shaalbonite,  the  sons  of  32 
Jashen,  Jonathan  ;  Shammah  the  Hararite,  Ahiam  the  33 
son  of  Sharar  the  Ararite ;  EHphelet  the  son  of  Ahasbai,  34 
the  son  of  the  Maacathite,  Eham  the  son  of  Ahithophel 
the  Gilonite ;  Hezro  the  CarmeHte,  Paarai  the  Arbite ;  35 
Igal  the  son  of  Nathan  of  Zobah,  Bani  the  Gadite ;  3*5 
Zelek  the  Ammonite,  Naharai  the  Beerothite,  armour-  37 
bearers  to  Joab  the  son  of  Zeruiah ;  Ira  the  Ithrite,  3^ 
Gareb  the  Ithrite ;  Uriah  the  Hittite  :  thirty  and  seven  39 
in  all. 

And  again  the  anger  of  the  Lord  was  kindled  against  24 

(/)  xxiv.     David's  census  and  its  consequences. 

The  last  entry  in  the  appendix  to  Samuel  consists  of  a  document 
which  may  be  described  as  the  charter  of  the  most  famous  of 
the  world's  holy  places.  By  the  theophany  here  recorded  the 
threshing-floor  of  Araunah  the  Jebusite  received  a  consecration 
which  has  made  it  holy  ground  not  only  for  Judaism  and 
Christianity,  but  for  Islam  as  well.  Upon  this  spot,  we  can 
scarcely  doubt,  stood  the  great  altar  of  Solomon's  temple.  To-day, 
as  all  the  world  knows,  the  site  is  covered  by  the  magnificent 
mosque,  the  K'libbct  es-sahra,  or  Dome  of  the  Rock,  the  most 
sacred  of  Mohammedan  shrines  after  those  of  Mecca  and  Medina. 
In  contents  and  style  the  narrative  before  us  shows  a  marked 
affinity  with  that  of  chap.  xxi.  Both  tell  the  tale  of  man's  trespass 
and  the  judgement  that  followed,  and  how  the  anger  of  the  Deity 
was  finally  appeased,  and  'God  was  intreated  for  the  land'  (xxi. 
14,  xxiv.  25).  The  incidents  of  both  are  probably  to  be  referred 
to  the  beginning  of  David's  reign  over  all  Israel.  This  chapter 
has  been  carefully  edited  by  the  Chronicler  in  his  characteristic 
manner.    Indeed,  the  variations  are  so  numerous  that  Budde  is  of 


314  n   SAMUEL  24.  2-4.     Z 

Israel,  and  he  moved  David  against  them,  saying,  Go, 

2  number  Israel  and  Judah.  And  the  king  said  to  Joab 
the  captain  of  the  host,  which  was  with  him,  Go  now  to 
and  fro  through  all  the  tribes  of  Israel,  from  Dan  even 
to  Beer-sheba,  and  number  ye  the  people,  that  I  may 

3  know  the  sum  of  the  people.  And  Joab  said  unto  the 
king,  Now  the  Lord  thy  God  add  unto  the  people,  liow 
many  soever  they  be,  an  hundredfold/ and  may  the  eyes 
of  my  lord  the  king  see  it :  but  why  doth  my  lord  the 

4  king  delight  in  this  thing  ?  Notwithstanding  the  king's 
word  prevailed  against  Joab,  and  against  the  captains 

opinion  that  the  narrative  in  Chronicles  (i  Chron;  xxi)  may  rest 
on  a  different  recension  of  the  text  from  that  to  which  we  now 
proceed. 

1.  The  opening  words,  And  agfaln,  are  best  taken  as  referring 
to  the  incidents  of  xxi.  1-14,  of  which  this  chapter  is  probably  the 
continuation. 

and  he  moved  David  agfainst  them :  namely,  Israel  (for  the 
verb  in  a  similar  connexion  see  i  Sam.  xxvi.  19,  R.V.,  'stirred 
up ').  The  conception  of  the  Deity  in  the  author's  mind  seems 
a  reflection  of  the  idea,  not  yet  obsolete,  of  an  oriental  ruler  to 
whose  absolutism  there  are  no  bounds.  Yahweh  is  incensed 
against  Israel — it  is  not  for  His  subjects  to  ask  the  why  or  the 
wherefore — and  David  is  made  the  instrument  of  His  anger.  Of 
surpassing  interest  for  the  study  of  the  progressiveness  of 
revelation  in  the  O.  T.  period  is  the  form  which  the  Chronicler 
has  given  to  this  verse.  To  his  more  developed  religious  sense 
the  idea  was  abhorrent  that  God  could  be  subject  to  moods,  and 
incite  men  to  a  course  of  action  for  which  He  afterwards  calls 
them  to  account.  Accordingly  he  writes  :  'And  Satan  stood  up 
against  Israel,  and  moved  David  to  number  Israel'  (i  Chron.  xxi. 
i).  Wherein  the  sinfulness  of  the  numbering  consisted  our 
narrator  does  not  say.  Probably  in  the  popular  thought  of  the 
time  it  was  regarded  as  a  sinful  ambition  on  the  part  of  the 
creature  to  possess  a  secret  which  the  Creator  intended  should  be 
His  alone. 

2.  Joab  the  captain  of  the  host:  read,  as  required  by  verse 
4,  'Joab  and  the  captains  of  the  host  who  were  with  him.'  The 
object  of  the  census,  we  may  gather  from  this,  was  the  pre- 
paration of  a  register  of  all  the  males  capable  of  bearing  arms 
(cf.  verse  9). 


II    SAMUEL  24.  5-9.     Z  315 

of  the  host.     And  Joab  and  the  captains  of  the  host 
went  out  from  the  presence  of  the  king,  to  number  the 
people  of  Israel.     And  they  passed  over  Jordan,  and  5 
pitched  in  Aroer,  on  the  right  side  of  the  city  that  is 
in  the  middle  of  the  valley  of  Gad,  and  unto  Jazer : 
then  they  came  to  Gilead,  and  to  the  land  of  Tahtim-  6 
hodshi ;  and  they  came  to  Dan-jaan,  and  round  about  to 
Zidon,  and  came  to  the  strong  hold  of  Tyre,  and  to  all  7 
the  cities  of  the  Hivites,  and  of  the  Canaanites :  and 
they  went  out  to  the  south  of  Judah,   at  Beer-sheba. 
So  when  they  had  gone  to  and  fro  through  all  the  land,  8 
they  came  to  Jerusalem  at  the  end  of  nine  months  and 
twenty  dtiys.    And  Joab  gave  up  the  sum  of  the  number-  9 
ing  of  the  people  unto  the  king  :  and  there  were  in  Israel 
eight  hundred  thousand  valiant  men  that  drew  the  sword; 

5.  and  pitched  in  Aroer:  read  with  LXX  (L):  'and  they 
began  from  Aroer,  and  from  the  city  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the 
valley  (wady)  towards  the  Gadites,  and  on  to  Jazer,'  the  first  part 
verbatim  as  in  Deut.  ii.  36.  Aroer,  the  modern  Ardir,  lay  on  the 
north  bank  of  the  Arnon,  now  the  Wadi  Moj'ib,  which  formed  the 
southern  boundary  of  Israelitish  territory  on  the  east  of  the  Jordan. 

Jazer  was  the  frontier  town  towards  Ammon  (Num.  xxi.  24, 
LXX).  The  enumerators  thus  began  work  at  the  extreme  south, 
and  worked  their  way  northwards  to  the  Jabbok. 

6.  Then  followed  the  district  of  Gilead,  between  the  Jabbok 
and  the  Yarmuk. 

and  to  the  land  of  Tahtim-hodshi :  an  evident  corruption 
for  which  we  must  either  substitute  Lucian's  text,  '  to  the  land  of 
the  Hittites  towards  Kadesh,'  the  Hittite  capital  on  the  left  bank 
of  the  Orontes,  or  adopt  one  or  other  of  the  more  recent  con- 
jectures, for  which  see  EBi.  iv.  col,  4888  f. 

Dan-jaan:  read  either,  'and  they  came  to  Dan  (the  modern 
Til-el-Kddi  at  the  base  of  Hermon),  and  from  Dan  they  went 
round  towards  Zidon'  (Wellh.,  Driver),  or  'they  came  to  Dan 
and  Ijon  (see  i  Kings  xv.  20),  and  went  round,'  &c.  (Klost., 
Budde).  The  enumerators  now  proceed  to  take  a  census  of 
Western  Palestine  from  Dan  in  the  north  to  Beer-sheba,  the  modern 
Bir-es-Seba,  in  the  south. 

9.  The  numbers,  as  usual,  have  not  been  consistently  handed 
down  (cf.  Chron.  and  Lucian),  and  may  safely  be  regarded,  even 


3i6  II   SAMUEL  24.  10-15.     Z 

and  the  men  of  Judah  were  five  hundred  thousand 
men. 

10  And  David's  heart  smote  him  after  that  he  had 
numbered  the  people.  And  David  said  unto  the  Lord, 
I  have  sinned  greatly  in  that  I  have  done :  but  now, 
O  Lord,  put  away,  I  beseech  thee,  the  iniquity  of  thy 

1 1  servant ;  for  I  have  done  very  foolishly.  And  when 
David  rose  up  in  the  morning,  the  word  of  the  Lord 

12  came  unto  the  prophet  Gad,  David's  seer,  saying,  Go 
and  speak  unto  David,  Thus  saith  the  Lord,  I  offer 
thee  three  things ;  choose  thee  one  of  them,  that  I  may 

13  do  it  unto  thee.  So  Gad  came  to  David,  and  told  him, 
and  said  unto  him.  Shall  seven  years  of  famine  come 
unto  thee  in  thy  land?  or  wilt  thou  flee  three  months 
before  thy  foes  while  they  pursue  thee?  or  shall  there 
be  three  days'  pestilence  in  thy  land  ?  now  advise  thee, 
and  consider  what  answer  I  shall  return  to  him  that  sent 

14  me.  And  David  said  unto  Gad,  I  am  in  a  great  strait : 
let  us  fall  now  into  the  hand  of  the  Lord;  for  his 
mercies  are  great :  and  let  me  not  fall  into  the  hand  of 

15  man.     So  the  Lord  sent  a  pestilence  upon  Israel  from 

at  the  lowest  figure  in  any  of  the  texts,  as  considerably  exag- 
gerated. 

10.  After  the  census  had  been  concluded,  David,  conscience- 
stricken,  makes  humble  confession  of  his  sin. 

11.  The  prophet  Gad  has  been  already  introduced,  i  Sam. 
xxii.  5. 

12.  I  offer  thee:  literally  and  more  graphically,  'I  hold  over 
thee '  (cf.  R.  V.  marg.). 

13.  seven  years:  read  with  the  Chronicler,  'three  years,' 
which  makes  the  duration  of  the  offered  judgements  three  years, 
three  months,  and  three  days  respectively. 

14.  David  chooses  the  plague — '  the  sword  of  Yahweh,*  as  it 
is  termed  in  i  Chron.  xxi.  ta — for  God  is  more  merciful  than  man. 

15.  The  Greek  text  is  here  preferred  by  recent  scholars  :  *So 
David  chose  the  pestilence  ;  and  it  was  the  days  of  the  wheat 
harvest  when  the  pestilence  began  among  the  people,  and  there 


II    SAMUEL   24.  16-20.     Z  317 

the  morning  even  to  the  time  appointed  :  and  there  died 
of  the  people  from  Dan  even  to  Beer-sheba  seventy 
thousand  men.  And  when  the  angel  stretched  out  his  16 
hand  toward  Jerusalem  to  destroy  it,  the  Lord  repented 
him  of  the  evil,  and  said  to  the  angel  that  destroyed  the 
people,  It  is  enough;  now  stay  thine  hand.  And  the 
angel  of  the  Lord  was  by  the  threshing-floor  of  Araunah 
the  Jebusite.  And  David  spake  unto  the  Lord  when  17 
he  saw  the  angel  that  smote  the  people,  and  said,  Lo, 
I  have  sinned,  and  I  have  done  perversely :  but  these 
sheep,  what  have  they  done?  let  thine  hand,  I  pray 
thee,  be  against  me,  and  against  my  father's  house. 

And  Gad  came  that  day  to  David,  and  said  unto  him,  18 
Go  up,  rear  an  altar  unto  the  Lord  in  the  threshing- 
floor  of  Araunah  the   Jebusite.     And  David  went   up  19 
according  to  the  saying  of  Gad,  as  the  Lord  commanded. 
And  Araunah  looked  forth,  and  saw  the  king  and  his  20 
servants  coming  on  toward  him :  and  Araunah  went  out, 
and  bowed  himself  before  the  king  with  his  face  to  the 


died,'  «&c.  'The  circumstantiality  and  force'  of  this  form  of  the 
narrative — seventy  thousand  victims  though  the  plague  had  only- 
just  begun — '  constitute  a  presumption  in  favour  of  its  originality, 
as  against  the  more  colourless  and  ordinary  narrative  of  the 
Hebrew  text'  (Driver,  Notes,  in  loc). 

16.  Reading  this  as  the  sequel  of  the  emended  text  in  the 
preceding  verse,  we  have  a  striking  justification  of  David's 
confidence  in  the  Divine  mercy  (verse  14),  for  the  plague,  as  we 
have  seen,  had  but  begun  when  Yahweh  stayed  the  hand  of  the 
destroying  angel.     Jerusalem,  in  particular,  was  still  spared. 

Arannah:  in  Chron.   Oman,   in    LXX,   Ornah   (see   R.  V. 
marg.),  one  of  the  original  Jebusite  inhabitants  of  the  city. 

17.  Compare  the  more  circumstantial  account,  i  Chron.  xxi.  16. 
18  ff.  The  spot  where  the  angel's  hand  was  stayed  is  to  be 

consecrated  for  all  future  ages  by  the  erection  of  an  altar  to 
Yahweh. 

20.  The  Chronicler  adds  the  information  that  'Araunah  was 
threshing  wheat/  cf.  the  restored  text  of  verse  15. 


3i8  II    SAMUEL  24.  31-25.     Z 

21  ground.  And  Araunah  said,  Wherefore  is  my  lord  the 
king  come  to  his  servant  ?  And  David  said.  To  buy  the 
threshing-floor  of  thee,  to  build  an  altar  unto  the  Lord, 

22  that  the  plague  may  be  stayed  from  the  people.  And 
Araunah  said  unto  David,  Let  my  lord  the  king  take 
and  offer  up  what  seemeth  good  unto  him :  behold,  the 
oxen  for  the  burnt  offering,  and  the  threshing  instruments 

23  and  the  furniture  of  the  oxen  for  the  wood :  all  this,  O 
king,  doth  Araunah  give  unto  the  king.  And  Araunah 
said  unto  the  king.  The  Lord  thy  God  accept  thee. 

24  And  the  king  said  unto  Araunah,  Nay ;  but  I  will  verily 
buy  it  of  thee  at  a  price  :  neither  will  I  offer  burnt  offer- 
ings unto  the  Lord  my  God  which  cost  me  nothing. 
So  David  bought  the  threshing-floor  and  the  oxen  for 

25  fifty  shekels  of  silver.     And  David  built  there  an  altar 

22  f.  Araunah  asserts  that  there  is  no  need  for  David  to  buy 
the  threshing-floor,  everything  is  at  his  sovereign's  disposal  for 
the  contemplated  sacrifice ;  but  see  on  verse  23. 

the  threshiugr  instruments  and  the  furniture  of  the  oxen : 
the  former  are  the  wooden  sledges  still  in  use  in  Syria.  They 
are  driven  over  the  corn,  the  ears  of  which  are  stripped  from  the 
stalk  by  the  sharp  flints  with  which  the  under  surface  of  the 
sledge  is  set  (see  illustration  EBi.  i.  col.  83).  The  furniture 
consisted  of  the  wooden  yokes  by  which  the  oxen  were  harnessed 
to  the  sledges  (i  Kings  xix.  21).  Cf.  the  proceedings  i  Sam. 
vi.  14. 

23.  Read  :  'the  whole  doth  the  servant  of  my  lord  the  king 
give  unto  the  king '  (see  Driver,  Notes).  This  offer  must  not  be 
taken  seriously.  Like  the  similar  offer  of  Ephron  the  Hittite 
(Gen.  xxiii.  11),  it  is  merely  a  part  of  the  conventional  courtesy 
which  still  regulates  buying  and  selling  in  the  Nearer  East. 

24.  The  fine  thought  to  which  David  here  gives  utterance 
underlies  all  true  sacrifice.  In  the  older  Hebrew  religion  this 
principle  may  have  had  its  limitations  (cf.  Mic.  vi.  6ff'.),  in  the 
religion  and  ethics  of  Christianity  it  has  none. 

fifty  shekels  of  silver  :  under  £■^  sterling,  valued  as  bullion, 
but  of  course  of  immensely  greater  purchasing  power.  The  price 
is  small  compared  with  that  paid  for  the  cave  of  Machpelah 
(400  shekels,  Gen  xxiii.  16).    The  Chronicler  raises  the  price  to 


II    SAMUEL  24.  25.     Z  319 

unto  the  Lord,  and  offered  burnt  offerings  and  peace 
offerings.  So  the  Ix)rd  was  intreated  for  the  land,  and 
the  plague  was  stayed  from  Israel. 

600  slickels  of  gold,  circa  /^r2oo.  For  the  values  see  the  writer's 
article  '  Money '  in  Hastings'  DB.  iii.  420. 

25.  That  the  site  of  David's  altar  corresponded  with  that  of 
Solomon's  altar  of  burnt-offering,  and  that  both  are  now  occupied 
by  the  Dome  of  the  Rock,  are  points  on  which  there  is  a  general 
agreement  among  scholars  (see  Skinner's  Kings  in  this  series, 
Appendix,  note  I). 


APPENDIX 


Note  A.    The  Ark  in  the  Books  of  Samuel* 

The  importance  of  the  Ark  in  the  rehgious  history  of  the 
Hebrews,  and  the  prominent  place  which  it  occupies  in  the 
earliest  sources  of  Samuel,  demand  a  slightly  more  extended  study 
of  this  unique  object  of  the  Hebrew  cultus  than  w^as  possible  in 
the  notes.  The  term  '  Ark,'  from  the  Latin  area,  a  chest,  is  the 
rendering  (since  Wiclif,  1380)  suggested  by  the  Vulgate  of  the 
Hebrew  'droit,  a  chest,  as  the  word  is  rendered  2  Kings  xii.  10  f. 
Either  alone  or  in  the  combination  'Ark  of  the  Covenant,'  to  be 
presently  explained,  the  Ark  has  become  the  usual  designation 
among  us  of  the  sacred  chest  in  which  were  deposited,  according 
to  the  latest  form  of  the  ecclesiastical  tradition,  '  a  golden  pot 
holding  the  manna,  and  Aaron's  rod  that  budded,  and  the  tables 
of  the  covenant '  (Heb.  ix.  4).  It  is  instructive,  however,  to 
note  the  different  names  or  titles  of  the  Ark  in  the  different 
strata  of  Hebrew  literature. 

■{a)  The  Titles  of  the  Ark  in  the  O.  T.  In  the  O.  T.  the  Ark 
is  mentioned  close  on  200  times,  and  by  at  least  twenty-two  dif- 
ferent designations.  But  if  the  simplest  name  of  all  '  the  Ark ' 
(fifty-four  times)  is  set  aside  as  scarcely  a  title,  these  many  desig- 
nations are  found  to  fall  into  three  groups,  (i)  In  our  oldest 
extant  sources,  which  are  precisely  those  of  Samuel  (A,  M,  and 
C),  followed  by  the  prophetic  source  JE  of  the  Hexateuch^,  we 
find  '  the  Ark  of  Yahweh — by  every  token  the  earliest  designa- 
tion of  all — alternating  with  'the  Ark  of  God,'  which,  however, 
appears  in  several  instances  to  have  been  substituted  for  the  other. 
(2)  In  Deuteronomy  and  the  writings  of  the  Deuteronomic  school 
(see  pp.  I  off.)  the  favourite  designation  of  the  decalogue  is  the 
beriihj  in  our  versions  rendered  covenant,  but  in  this  connexion 
properly  '  law  '  or  even  '  decalogue,*  as  is  evident  from  Deut.  ix. 

^  This  Note  may  be  regarded  as  supplementing,  and  to  some 
extent  correcting,  the  writer's  article  *  Ark '  in  Hastings'  DB.  vol.  i, 
to  which  the  reader  is  referred  for  points  not  touched  upon  here. 

'"  It  is  remarkable  that  in  the  Pentateuch  the  Ark  is  mentioned  in 
this  source  only  three  times,  namely,  Num.  x.  33,35f.,  xiv.  44,  and 
afterwards  in  the  early  chapters  of  Joshua  (iii,  iv  and  vi). 


2,22  APPENDIX— NOTE  A 

9,  II,  15,  'the  tables  of  the  bciith''  or  decalogue,  which  Moses 
placed  in  the  Ark  (x.  5).  From  this  circumstance  the  Ark  bears,  in 
Deuteronomic  writers,  the  title  '  Ark  of  the  berith  '  (R.  V.  covenant), 
that  is,  '  the  chest  containing  the  decalogue.'  The  seventh  cenhiry 
author  of  Deuteronomy,  it  should  be  noted,  is  the  first  in  our 
extant  literature  to  associate  the  Ark  with  the  tables  of  the  law, 
or  even  ivith  contetits  of  any  sort  (see  below).  The  last-cited 
title,  however,  although  so  familiar  to  us  as  'the  Ark  of  the 
covenant,'  occurs  but  a  few  times,  and  that  exclusively  in  the 
Deuteronomistic  parts  of  Joshua.  The  more  usual  form  is  'the 
Ark  of  the  law  {berith)  of  Yahweh,'  rarely  varied  by  '  the  Ark  of 
the  law  of  God.'  In  some  half-dozen  passages  of  pre-Deutero- 
nomic  writings  it  is  evident  on  grammatical  and  other  grounds  that 
the  word  berith  has  been  inserted  in  one  or  other  of  the  older 
titles  (so  in  Joshua  iii.  11,  14,  17  ;  i  Sam  iv.  3,  4,  5).  (3)  In  the 
Priests'  Code  (P),  and  here  only,  is  found  the  designation  'the 
Ark  of  the  testimony  '  (thirteen  times),  again  equivalent  to  '  the 
chest  containing  the  decalogue,'  P's  favourite  term  for  which  is 
'  the  testimony.' 

Turning  now  to  the  Books  of  Samuel,  we  find  the  Ark  mentioned 
no  fewer  than  sixty-one  times  ^,  under  seven  separate  designations, 
viz.  'the  Ark  of  God'  (twenty-four\  'the  Ark  of  Yahweh' 
(twenty),  for  which  is  substituted  in  the  mouth  of  the  Philistines 
'  the  Ark  of  the  God  of  Israel '  (seven  times,  i  Sam.  v.  7  fF.,  vi.  3), 
'  the  Ark '  simply,  four  times.  In  four  other  passages  we  have 
the  composite  forms  '  the  Ark  [of  the  covenant]  of  Yahweh,'  or 
'  of  God  '  (iv.  3,  4,  5  - ;  xv.  24,  a  gloss).  The  two  references  that 
remain  (i  Sam.  iv.  4  ;  2  Sam.  vi.  2,  see  note  on  the  latter)  show 
greatly  expanded  titles,  the  most  distinctive  parts  of  which  contain 
the  formula  'the  Lord  of  hosts,  which  sitteth  upon  the  cherubim.' 
As  regards  the  first  part,  the  Divine  name,  Yahweh  Sebaoth,  has 
already  been  explained  (p.  37)  as  denoting  Yahweh  as  '  the  God 
of  the  armies  (or  hosts)  of  Israel '  (i  Sam.  xvii.  45).  The  qualifying 
epithet  unites  two  streams  of  influence,  the  one  the  primitive 
conception  of  the  cherubim  as  the  storm-clouds,  the  visible  mani- 
festation in  nature  of  Yahweh  (3  Sam.  xxii.  11),  the  other  the  later 
conception  of  the  cherubim  as  the  guardians  of  the  Ark,  in  the 
temple  of  Solomon.     In  the  cases  before  us,  therefore,  the  phrase 


^  Of  these  the  two  occurrences,  1  Sam.  xiv.  iS,  should  be  deleted  as 
glosses  (see  the  notes),  also  the  post-redactional  gloss,  2  Sam.  xv.  24. 
On  the  other  hand,  an  original  mention  in  3  Sam.  xii.  13  should  be 
restored  (see  note). 

^  These,  it  will  be  observed,  are  the  first  three  references  out  of 
twenty-seven  in  the  document  A,  but  even  in  these  the  LXX  has 
preserved  the  older  and  original  forms. 


APPENDIX  -NOTE  A  323 

•that  sits  entliioneci  upon  the  clierubim  '  is  a  late  expansion  of 
the  original  titles,  suggesting  the  Ark  as  the  earthly  throne  of 
Yahweh  (cf.  Davison's  Psalms  \Cent.  Bible),  i.  361  f.;. 

{b)  The  special  significance  of  the  Ark  in  Samuel.  In  almost 
every  reference  in  the  oldest  pre-Deuteronomic  sources,  above 
specified,  to  the  Ark — which  must  be  thought  of  as  a  simple  chest, 
very  different  from  the  gold-covered  shrine  of  the  Priests'  Code 
(^Exod.  XXV.  10 ft'.)  with  its  mercy-seat  and  over-arching  cherubim 
— it  is  associated  ivith  ivar  and  the  national  militia  of  Israel  (Num. 
xiv.  42  ff.  ;  Joshua  vi.  6  ft".  ;  i  Sam.  iv.  3  ft".  ;  2  Sam.  xi.  11,  xii.  12, 
emended  text).  Its  presence  with  the  host  on  the  battlefield  is 
the  guarantee  of  victory  (i  Sam.  iv.  3),  its  absence  the  cause  of 
defeat,  as  at  Eben-ezer,  and  as  on  an  earlier  occasion  at  Hormah 
(^Num.  xiv.  44  f.}.  War  was  a  religious  exercise,  begun  with 
sacrifices  and  prayer;  the  warriors  were  'the  consecrated  ones' 
(see  on  i  Sam.  xiii.  9)  ;  the  battles  of  His  people  were  Yahweh's 
battles  (xviii,  17),  and  Yahweh  Himself  bears  the  name  of  Yahweh 
Sebaoth,  '  the  God  of  the  armies  of  Israel '  (xvii.  45). 

The  earliest  of  all  the  extant  references  to  the  Ark  connects  it 
with  the  fact  of  war.  In  the  ancient  poetical  fragment,  Num.  x. 
35  f.,  which  may  well  have  been  taken  from  the  collection  entitled 
'the  book  of  the  wars  of  Yahweh'  i^Num.  xxi.  14),  is  preserved 
the  prayer  with  which  the  Ark  was  sent  forth  to  battle : 

'Arise,   O  Yahweh,  and  let  thine  enemies  be  scattered, 
Let  them  that  hate  thee  flee  before  thee.' 

Also  that  with  which  its  return  was  welcomed  : 

'  Return,  O  Yahweh,  unto  the  myriad  clans  of  Israel.* 

In  these,  it  will  be  noted,  the  Ark  is  addressed  directly  as  Yahiveh. 
The  same  identification  of  the  Ark  with  Yahweh  meets  us  in  the 
early  source  A  of  Samuel.  *  Let  us  fetch  the  Ark  of  Yahweh,'  is 
the  resolution  of  the  Hebrew  sheikhs  after  the  defeat  at  Eben-ezer, 
'  that  He  (not  'it'  as  in  R.  V.)  may  come  unto  us  and  save  us'  (i 
Sam.  iv.  3  ;  cf.  the  Philistines'  comment  in  verses  7  f.).  Its  capture 
is  described  in  the  striking  words,  '  the  Glory  has  departed  (lit.  'has 
gone  into  captivity  ')  from  Israel '  (verse  21  f.)  ;  where  '  the  Glory ' 
is  a  synonym  for  Yahweh.  This  identification  is  so  complete  that, 
on  the  return  of  the  Ark,  the  men  of  Beth-shemesh  exclaim,  '  vyho 
is  able  to  stand  before  this  holy  God '  (vi.  20).  At  a  later  time 
David  played  and  danced,  even  as  he  sacrificed,  '  before  Yahweh,' 
inasmuch  as  these  acts  were  done  before  the  Ark  (2  Sam.  vi.  5  ff".  ; 
cf.  Joshua  vii.  6ff.;. 

In  all  these  early  passages,  then,  it  is  clear  that  the  Ark  is 
identified  with  the  presence  of  Yahweh.  It  is  not,  as  is  gener- 
ally held,  a  mere  symbol  of  that  presence.      This  must  not  be 

Y    2 


324  APPENDIX— NOTE  A 

understood  in  a  crass,  material  sense,  as  if  the  Ark  were  a  fetish, 
or  contained  one  or  more  fetishes  in  the  shape  of  meteoric  stones 
or  stones  from  the  original  abode  of  Yahweh  on  Horeb,  as  is  the 
almost  universal  opinion  of  German  scholars,  of  Chej'ne  in  this 
country  {EBi.  i.  307),  and  Moore  in  America  {EBi.  ii.  2155).  The 
key  to  the  problem  is  to  be  sought  elsewhere  ^ 

In  the  tangled  skein  of  traditions  respecting  the  wilderness 
wanderings  of  the  children  of  Israel  and  the  guides  provided  for 
them  through  the  desert,  now  found  in  scattered  fragments  of  our 
Pentateuch  sources,  we  find,  in  addition  to  Jethro  (Num.  x.  29  ft\, 
compared  with  Judges  i.  16)  and  the  Ark  (Num.  x.  33),  mention 
made  of  Hhe  angel  of  Yahweh'  (Exod.  xxiii.  20  ff.),  the  pillar  of 
cloud  and  of  fire  {passim),  and  finally  the  mysterious  '  P'ace '  or 
'  Presence  {pdnim)  of  Yahweh  '  (Exod.  xxxiii.  6  f.)^.  Now  these 
three  last  mentioned  are,  in  the  conception  of  the  writers,  varying 
degrees  of  the  personal  manifestation  of  Yahweh  to  His  people. 
In  the  angel  this  '  temporary  descent  to  visibility  '  on  the  part  of 
Yahweh  assumes  human  form,  the  cloud  is  the  visible  representa- 
tion of  the  '  Glory  of  Yahweh  '  (for  which  see  Kautzsch  in  Hastings' 
DB.,  extra  vol.  639  f.),  while  the  ark  is  t/ie  supreme  enibodirnent  of 
the  'Presence  of  Yahtveh.'  Thus  when  Moses  expresses  himself  as 
dissatisfied  with  the  promise  of  the  '  angel  of  Yahweh  '  to  go  before 
the  tribes  on  their  march  to  Canaan  (Exod.  xxxii.  34,  xxxiii.  2), 
he  obtains  the  further  promise  of  what  is  evidently  a  fuller  mani- 
festation in  the  shape  of  'the  Presence,'  which  is  even  identified 
with  Yahweh.  '  My  presence  shall  go  with  thee,  and  I  will  give 
thee  rest'  (xxxiii.  14  f.).  This  fundamental  passage  is  the  original 
both  of  Deut.  iv.  37,  *  he  brought  them  out  by  his  presence,'  and 
of  Isa.  Ixiii.  9,  which  must  be  read :  '  neither  a  messenger  nor  an 
angel,  but  his  presence  delivered  them.' 

Had  we  only  the  good  fortune  to  have  access  to  one  or  other 
of  the  prophetic  sources,  J  and  E,  we  are  convinced  that  the  Ark 
would  have  been  explicitly  brought  into  connexion  with  the 
mysterious  pdnitn,  the  Face,  or  Presence,  of  Yahweh.  Higher 
than  the  temporary  visibility  of  the  angel,  and  than  the  more 
lasting  but  still  transitory  'glory'  of  the  cloud,  the  Ark  remained 
as  a  permanent  possession,  at  once  the  highest  embodiment  of 
Yahweh's  presence  and  the  substitute  for  that  still  more  com- 
plete presence  of  Yahweh  in  person,  which  no  man  could  see  and 
live  (xxxiii.  20). 

We  are  here  in  a  region  of  primitive  conceptions  where  it  is 

^  When  the  writer  first  expounded  the  following  explanation  in 
public  (1903),  a  subsequent  speaker  remarked  that  'the  Ark  had 
been  at  once  emptied  and  glorified '  ! 

"  For  this  difficult  theologoiimenon,  see  now  Kautzsch  in  Hastings' 
DB.y  extra  vol.  639;  Lagrange,  Rev,  Dibliqiie,  1903,  215  ff. 


APPENDIX— NOTE  A  325 

difficult  for  us  moderns  to  feel  at  home.  But  the  expression  of 
Yahweh's  '  face'  or  'presence,'  as  a  synonym  for  Yahweh's  '  self/ 
had  its  origin  in  Hebrew  usage,  by  which  the  person  of  royalty 
was  described  as  the  king's  '  face,*  or  •  presence,'  a  usage  indeed 
not  unknown  among  ourselves.  Thus,  to  take  an  illustration  from 
the  Book  of  Samuel,  Hushai  urges  the  advantage  to  Absalom's  army 
of  *  thy  Presence  (  =  'your  Majesty')  marching  in  the  midst  of 
them'  (2  Sam.  xvii.  ii  ;  cf  R.  V.  marg.  and  the  notes).  Similarly 
Absalom  a  few  years  earlier  '  saw  not  the  king's  face '  (xiv.  24,  28), 
i.  e.  he  was  not  admitted  to  '  the  royal  presence.'  The  writer  hopes 
elsewhere  to  show  that  even  in  the  earlier  parts  of  the  O.  T. 
the  Ark  originally  was  explicitly  identified  with  the  'Presence' 
of  Yahweh.  The  further  discussion  of  the  question  here  would 
require  citation  of  the  Hebrew  texts,  and  is  therefore  unsuitable 
for  this  already  too  extended  note. 

(c)  The  stay  of  the  Ark  at  Kiriaih-jearim  (cf.  pp.  217  f,  above). 
Another  problem  of  great  difficulty,  raised  by  the  fortunes  of  the 
Ark  in  Samuel,  is  the  unaccountable  neglect  of  this  guarantee 
of  the  '  presence  of  Yahweh '  during  the  period  covered  by  the 
narrative  from  i  Sam.  vii  to  2  Sam.  vi.  This  neglect  has  been 
described  with  truth  as  '  one  of  the  most  singular  circumstances 
of  a  singular  age'  {Oxf.  Hexateuch,  i.  81^.  The  merit  of  having 
first  recognized  and  grappled  with  the  problem  belongs  to  the 
late  Professor  Kosters  of  Leiden,  who  propounded  the  view  that 
the  account  of  the  voluntary  restitution  of  the  Ark  by  the  Philis- 
tines, now  given  in  i  Sam.  vi,  is  unhistorical  {Theoh  Tijdschri/f, 
1893,  361  ff.}.  The  Ark,  according  to  Kosters,  remained  in  the 
safe  custody  of  the  Philistines  at  Gath  in  the  house  of  Obed-edom 
until  forcibly  retaken  by  David  in  the  course  of  his  Philistine  cam- 
paigns, to  which  a  brief  allusion  is  made  in  2  Sam.  xxi.  20  ff. 
David  took  the  precious  relic  first  to  Kiriath-jearim  pending  the 
preparation  of  proper  quarters  in  Jerusalem,  or  even  the  capture 
of  the  fortress  itself. 

The  antiquity  and  general  credibility  of  the  early  source  A  is 
fatal  to  Koster's  theory.  But  some  explanation  of  the  long  con- 
tinued inaccessibility  of  the  Ark  is  urgently  required.  The  follow- 
ing is  put  forward  as  a  probable  theory,  developing  a  suggestion 
by  Karl  Budde,  to  account  for  the  facts  as  known  to  us  from  the 
present  fragmentary  record.  During  the  period  in  question  Kiriath- 
jearim,  which  we  know  to  have  been  a  member  of  the  Gibeonite 
league  (Joshua  ix.  17),  and  therefore  a  predominantly  Amorite  or 
Canaanite  city,  was  under  Philistine  suzeraint}',  although  not 
situated  in  Philistine  territory.  The  Philistines,  it  is  true,  sent  the 
dangerous  representative  of  the  God  of  Israel  (vi.  3)  forth  from  the 
confines  of  Philistia,  but  it  still  remained  within  the  sphere  of  their 
political  jurisdiction,  and  so  was  inaccessible  to  the  Hebrew  au- 


326  APPENDIX— NOTE  B 

thoiities.  It  maj'  even  be  conjectured  that  Saul's  m3'sterious  '  zeal ' 
against  the  Gibeonites  and  other  members  of  the  league  (cf.  2  Sam. 
xxi,  2,  with  note  on  iv.  2  f.)  was  not  unconnected  with  an  attempt 
on  his  part  to  recover  the  ancient  palladium  of  the  Hebrew  tribes. 
At  Kiriath-jearim  the  Ark  remained  until  David's  victory,  in  the 
campaign  initiated  in  2  Sam.  vi.  i,  rescued  the  city  from  the 
Philistine  power,  and  with  it  the  Ark  of  Yahweh  (see  note  on 
vi   I,  p.  218)  K 

Note  B.    Bibliography  of  Samuel 

The  following  are  the  most  important  recent  works  for  the 
study  of  Samuel,  in  addition  to  the  standard  histories  of  Evvald, 
Stade,  Kittel  (whose  work,  T/ie  Hisiory  of  the  Hebrews  (2  vols.), 
now  translated,  is  of  great  value  for  the  study  of  the  sources), 
Wellhausen,  and  H.  P.  Smith,  and  the  elaborate  articles  on  the 
Books  of  Samuel  by  Stade  and  Stenning  in  EBi.  and  Hastings' 
DB.  respectively. 

(<t)  Commentai'ies. 

H.   P.  Smith.  A    Critical  and  Exegetical  Commentary  on  the 

Books  of  Samuel,  1899. 
A.  Klostermann.    Die  Bitcher  Samneh's  imd  Konige,  1887. 
O.    Thenius.  Die    Bitcher  Samuelis   erkldrt,  3rd   edition    by 

Dr.  Max  L5hr,  1898  (with  a  valuable  parallel  synopsis  and 

criticism  of  the  analysis  of  the  sources). 
K.    BuDDE.   Die  Bi'icher  Sajnuelis  erkldrt,  1902. 
W.  NowACK.   Die  Biicher  Samuelis  iihcrsetzt  und  erklart,  TQ02. 

(Ji)  Aids  for  literary  and  textual  criticism. 

S.  R.  Driver.    The  Literature  of  the  Old  Testament. 

-Notes  on  the  Hebrew  Text  of  the  Books  of  Samuel. 

K.  BuDDE.  Die  Biicher  Richter  und  Samuel. 

The  Books  of  Samuel.    A  Critical  Edition  of  the  Hebrew  Te.xt 

(in  Haupt's  Sacred  Books  of  the  Old  Testament). 
J.   Wellhausen.    Die   Composition  des  Hexateuchs  und  dcr 

historischen  Bitcher  des  A.  T. 

• Der  Text  der  Biicher  Samuelis. 

A.  KuENEN.  Historisch-kritisch  Ondcrzoek,  etc. 

C.  H.  CoRNiLL.   Einleitung  in  das  A.  T. 

W.  H.  Bennett  and  W.  F.  Adeney.  A  Biblical  Introdiiction. 

N,  Peters.   Beitra'ge  sttr  Text-  und  Literarkritik  der  Biicher 

Samuel  'Conservative). 
(c)  To  these  may  be  added : 

G.  A.  Smith.  Historical  Geography  of  Palestine. 
F.  Buhl.   Geographic  des  alten  Paldsiina. 


^  For  the  probable  ultimate  fate  of  the  Ark,  see  Hastings'  DB.  i.  150. 


INDEX 


Abel,  Abel-beth-Maacah,   294  f. 
Abel-meholah,  133,  299. 
Abiathar,     David's    priest,    51. 

153  ff.,    184,   232  f.,    267  ff., 

285  f.,  296,    Cf.  footnote,  21. 
Abigail.    Nabal's   wife,    162  fT., 

174?  183,  198,  203. 
Abijah,  73. 
Abiinelech,      'son      of     Jerub- 

besheth.'  243. 
Abinadab,  67,  219. 
Abishai,  son  of  Zeruiah,  169 f., 

201  f.j  238  f.,  270 f.,  278,  280. 

287,  292  f.,  300,  311. 
Abncr,    109,    130,    140,   169  ff.  ; 

makes  Ish-baal  king.  199  ff.  ; 

death  and  burial  207  f.,  211  ; 

David's  lament  for,  208. 
Absalom,   203,    250 ;   takes    re- 
venge upon  Amnon,  253  ff. ; 

his  rebellion, 263  ff. ;  his  death, 

£79  ff. ;  his  pillar.  281 ;  David's 

grief,  283  f. 
Achish.  T49  f.,  173  ff..  181  f. 
'  Adino.    the  Eznite  '  a  textual 

corruption.  309. 
Adonijah.  153.  203. 
Adoram,  296. 
Adriel.    the    Meholathite,    133. 

299. 
Adullam,  150,  153  f.  215  f.,  310. 
Adversar}'  {sd/du^ ,  18 1  f. 
Agag,  king  of  Amalek,   iir  ff .  : 

cf.  Ban. 
Ahijah,  loi,  103. 
Ahimaaz,  son  of  Zadok,  268  f., 

276,  281  ff.  ;  cf.  footnote,  21. 
Ahimelech,   priest  of  Nob,   51, 

146  ff.,  151  ff,,  232  f. 
Ahimelech,  the  Hittite,  169. 


Ahinoam,  David's  wife,  168, 
174,  183,  198,  203,  250. 

Ahithophel,  264,  268  ff.,  313. 

Altar-stone,  65,  106,  293. 

Amalek,  Amalekites,  109  ff., 
174  f.,  180, 183  ff.,  19T  ff.,  231. 

Amasa,  277,  286,  292  f. 

Ambassadors,  sanctit}-  of  the 
persons  of,  237. 

Ammon,  Ammonites.  88  ff.,  108. 
172,  23T,  236 ff. 

Amnon,  203,  250 ff.  ;  his  mur- 
der, 254. 

Amorites,  71,  212,  297. 

Angel  of  God,  in  comparisons, 
183,  259  f.,  288  ;  cf.  324. 

Anointing,  the  ceremonj'  of, 
its  significance,  83 ;  as  con- 
secration of  a  king,  iro,  118, 
148,  196,  198,  285  ;  inter- 
mitted in  mourning,  247,  257  ; 
'  the  Lord's  anointed,'  45. 
52,92,  116,  125,  159  f.,  i7of.. 
194,  287,  307  {see  especially 
92). 

Aphek,  57,  176,  181. 

Arabah  (the;,  a  geographical 
term,  158,  202,  210. 

Aram  and  Edom  confused,  231. 

Araunah,thejebusite,3i3,3i7f. 

'  Ariel  of  Moab,'  a  corrupt  text. 
312. 

Ark  (of  Yahweh,  God,  &c.,  see 
321  ff.),  18,  37,  53.  56  ff..  65, 
103,  133.  153;  224,  227,  233. 
268  ;  accompanies  the  arnn*. 
58  f.,  103  f.,  239.  242.  267, 
323 ;  removed  to  the  *  cit\' 
of  David,'  217  ff.,  325;  see 
'Tent,'  and  Appendix, 


328 


I   AND   II   SAMUEL 


Armourbearer,  102  f.,  120,  124, 

126,  188  f.,  280,  313. 
Aroer,  315. 

Asahel,  170,  201  fF.,  207,  312. 
Ashdod,  57,  61  f.,  66. 
Ashkelon,  57,  66,  189,  195. 
Ashtaroth,   Ashtoreth,  Astarte, 

69,  93,  189. 
Ashurites,  7'ead  Asherites,  199. 
'Avenger  of  blood,'  257  f.  ;  see 

Blood-revenge. 

Baal,   Baalim,   69,  93 ;   applied 

to  Yahweh,  199. 
Baale  Judah  (  =  Kiriath-jearim), 

219. 
Baal-perazim,  216. 
Baanah  and  Rechab,  209  ff. 
Bahurim,  205,  270,  276,  286. 
Ban,   the  {herem),   iioff".,    115, 

175,  180,  185,  229. 
Barzillai,     the    Gileadite,    277, 

289  f. 
Bath-sheba,  241  fF.,  264. 
'  Battles  of  the  Lord,'  133,  166. 
Bedan,  read  Barak,  93. 
Beeroth,  Beerothite,  209  f. 
Beer-sheba,    55,    73,    315  ;    see 

Dan. 
Belial,    daughter    of,    sons  of, 

man,    men    of,    40,    45,    88, 

164  f.,  186,  270,  291. 
Benaiah,  232,  296,  311  f. 
Benjamin,  tribe  of,  Benjamite, 

81,  87,  151,  200,  206,  270  f., 

287,  292,  300. 
Beth-aven,  98,  104. 
Beth-el,  72,  83  f.,  254. 
Beth-horon,  100,  104  ;  the  two 

Beth-horons,  255. 
Beth-lehem,         Beth-lehemite, 

116  ff.,   123  f.,  141,   144,  203. 

301,  310;  well  of,  310  f. 
Beth-merhak,  the  '  Far  House.' 

265  f 
Beth-rehob,  Rehob,  237  f. 
Beth-shan,  1891,,  299. 


Beth-shemesh,  64  If, 

Bezor,  the  brook,  184,  186. 

Bichri,  Bichrites,  292  ff. 

Bithron,  202. 

Blessing,  the  priestly,  47,  221  f. 

Blood,  abstinence  from,  105 ; 
blood-money  and  blood-re- 
venge, 92,  207,  257  fF.,  297'ff. 

Blood-brotherhood,  see  Coven- 
ant, e 

Bodyguard,  royal,  176,  312;  see 
Cherethites,  Runners. 

Book  of  the  Dead,  illustration 
from  the,  43. 

Booths,  see  Feast. 

'  Bound  in  the  bundle  of  life,' 
166. 

'  Bridle  of  the  mother  city ' 
(Metheg-ammah),  229. 

Burning  of  the  dead,  190. 


Caleb,  Calebites,  162,  185,  198, 

203  f. 
Canaan,    the    land    of    Israel, 

Yahweh's  people,  see  Israel. 
Canaanites,  71,  315. 
Caphtor,  the   original  home  of 

the  Philistines,  57. 
Carmel    (in   Judah),    112,    156, 

162  f.,  168. 
'■  Cave  of  Adullam,'    a    textual 

error  for  '  hold'  &c,,  150. 
Census,  David's,  313  If. 
Ceremonial    purity,    ceremoni- 
ally 'clean,'  144,  147,  241. 
Chemosh,  the  national  deity  of 

the  Moabites,  172. 
Cherethites,  184;  andPelethites 

(Krethi    and    Plethi),   232  f., 

238,  265,  292,  296. 
Cherub,   303 ;    Cherubim,    that 

sitteth   upon    the,    58,    219 ; 

explanation    of   the    phrase, 

322  f. 
Chimham,  290. 
Chronicler,   Chronicles,  author 


INDEX 


329 


of,  referred  to,  7,  35,  170,  188, 
212, 2T6r.,  220.  229,  236.  313 1. 

Chronolog}',  indications  of  and 
notes  on,  Introduction,  sect, 
ix,  52  f.,  60,  63,  68,  96,  174, 
200,  212,  225,  253,  256,  261, 
263,  315  :  cf.  'unto  this  day,' 
62,  174,  220. 

'City  of  David,*  meaning  of, 
213  f,  227. 

'  City  of  Waters '  (water-fort), 
249. 

Coal,  '  they  shall  quench  my 
coal,'  257. 

Common,  the  complement  of 
'  holy,'  consecrated,  148. 

'  Confectionaries,'  75. 

Consecration  of  king,  sec 
Anointing  ;  of  priests,  67  ;  of 
warriors,  98  f.,  133,  148,  193, 
196, 241,323 ;  of  worshippers, 
T17. 

Cor-ashan,  lead  Beer-sheba  (?\ 
187. 

Corvee,  75,  296. 

Covenant  of  blood-brotherhood 
l^David  and  Jonathan),  130, 
141,  157,  234,  298;  between 
Yahweh  and  Israel,  228.  See 
Israel. 

Cursing,  David  cursing,  207  : 
and  cursed,  128,  270  f.,  287, 

Cushite  (^Ethiopian),  281  ff. 

Dagon,  60  ff. 

Damascus,  230. 

Dan,  55, 294  fi".  ;  to  Beer-sheba, 
(  =  the  whole  extent  of  Can- 
aan), 55,  204,  274,  314,  317. 

Dancing  *  before  the  Lord,' 
a  religious  ceremony,  221. 

David,  indicated,  ii4f.  ;  intro- 
duced, 116  ff.;  anointed,  118, 
198  f.,  211  f.;  brought  to  Saul. 
119  f.,  126,  130;  Moabite 
ancestry,  150;  pursued  by 
Saul  156  ff.,    169  ff.;    spares 


Saul's    life,     159  f..     169  ff.  ; 
takes    refuge    with    Achish, 
149  f. ,  173  f.  ;  his  lament  over 
Saul    and   Jonathan,    195  ff. ; 
captures   Jerusalem,  212  ff.  ; 
and    removes  the  ark  there, 
217  ff.  ;  associated  with  poe- 
try   and  music,    119  f.,    132, 
194 f,  208,  290,  302 ff.,  306 f. 
his     'last     words,'     306  ff. 
signification  of  the  name,  1 18 
David's  character,  28  f ,  text 
andnotes/)rrs5z'w;  idealization 

of>  99,  197,  307- 

Davidic  dynasty,  51  f.,  92,  142, 
223  ff.,  308. 

*  Detained  before  the  Lord,' 
a  term  of  the  cultus,  148. 

Deuteronomic  School  of  His- 
torians, aims,  doctrines, st3'le, 
'  Deuteronomic  compiler '  or 
redactor,  &c.,  10  ff.,  17  ff., 
23ff.,  48,  5if.,  68  ff,,  91,94,  98, 
106,  108,  177,  212,  223,  225  ff., 
229  ff. 

Divan  of  the  sheikhs,  picture  of, 

273- 
'  Divers   colours,'   garment   of, 

253- 
Dodai,    Dodavahu    Dodo,    ti8, 

309?  313- 
Doeg,  the  Edomite,  148,  151  ff. 
Dog,  as  term  of  contempt,  &c., 

128,  160,  204,  235,  270. 
Dome  of  the  Rock,  313,  319. 
Doublets  in    the   narratives  of 

Samuel,    16  ff.,   72  ff. ;    48  ff., 

52  ff.;   98  ff.,  iioff.  ;    ii9ff., 

130  ff.  ;  133  ff.  ;  149  fv  173**-; 

157  ff.,     168  ff.  ;     162,     176; 

191  ff.  ;  261,  281. 
Dowry,  134,  217;  cf.  205. 
Duty,  no  word  for  duty  in  O.  T., 

113- 

Eben-ezer,  57,  71. 

Edom,  Edomite,  108.  148,  231. 


330 


I   AND    IT    SAMUEL 


^gypt,   Egyptians,   49,  57,    7,,, 

86,  175,  183  f,,  312. 
Ekron,  57,  62,  66,  71,  129. 
Elah,  vale  of,  121,  124,  149. 
Elhanan,  122,  301,  313. 
Eli,  37ff.,  45ff.,  48ff.,  68. 
Eliab,  117,  124  f. 
Eliada  =  Baal-iada,  215. 
Eliam,  241,  313. 
Eliazar,  son  of  Abinadab,  67. 
Eliazar,  son  of  Dodai,  309. 
Elkanah,  36  ff.,  45,  47. 
En-dor,  176  ff. 
En-gedi,  158. 
En-rogel,  276. 
Epha,  41  f.,  124. 
Ephes-dammim,     Pas-dammim, 

121,  309. 
Ephod  ''an  image),  ephod-oracic, 

49,  loi,  104,  149,  153  fir.,  184, 

198,  204,  212,  272 ;    (priestly 

dress)  47,  49,  153,  221. 
Ephraim,    199;   forest  of,  279; 

hill  countr}^  of,  35,  78,  104  f. 
Eschatology,    44  f.,    227  ;     see 

Name,  Sheol. 
Esdraelon,  plain  of,  177. 
Euphrates,  see  River. 
Ezel,  the  stone  E.,  143. 

Familiar  spirits,  see  Witchcraft. 

Fasting,  70,  190, 

'  Father's  house,'  a  technical 
term  of  the  social  organiza- 
tion, 50,  81,  125,  150,  152, 
154,  162,  207,  258,  288,  317. 

Feast  of  Booths  (Tabernacles), 
38  ;  Ingathering,  38,  40  ;  of 
the     Sheep- shearing,    162  f., 

254- 
Ferry  boat  (read  '  ford '),  287. 
'  Folly,'  signification  of,  252. 
Fords    (of    Jordan\   268,    275, 

286  f.^ 
'  Friend,  David's,'  268  f.,  271  f. ; 

'  king's    friend '    as    p.   court 

title,  27 1  f. 


Gad,  98,  315 ;  the  prophet, 
150  f..  316  f. 

*  Garrison,'  ambiguity  of  word 
rendered,  84,  97,  230  f. 

Gate,  gatehouse,  80  f..  207, 
282  flf. 

Gath,  57,  62,  66,  7T,  122 ff., 
129,  149,  173  ff.,  195,  229, 
265  f.,  301  f. 

Gaza,  57,  61,  66. 

Geba,  97,  100  f,  217. 

Ger,  a  term  of  Hebrew  juris- 
prudence =*  stranger/  &c., 
175?  193,  209,  220,  241. 

Geshur,  Geshurites,  174,  203, 
250,  256,  260,  262  f. 

Gezer,  175,  217. 

Gibeah  of  Benjamin  (  =  Gibeah 
of  Saul),  77,  87  flf.,  97,  100  ft'., 
112  fii;,  115,  157,  168,  170, 
298  ;  of  God,  84  f. 

Gibeon,  Gibeonites,  200  ff.,  207, 
217,  293,  297  ff. 

Gibeonite  covenant  and  league, 
67,  209,  297  ;  members  of, 
besides    Gibeon,    209,    218, 

325  f- 
Gilboa,  177  f.,   181,  188  ft'..   195, 

299. 
Gilead,  Gileadite,  98,  199,  277, 

315- 
Gilgal,    72,    74,    85.    91,    97  ft'.. 

286,  290. 
Giloh,  Gilonite,  264. 
Gittites,  see  Gath,   Ittai,  Obed- 

edom. 
'Go    (to)    out    and   come   in,' 

Hebrew     idiom,     explained, 

131  f- 
'  God    do    so     to     me     (thee) 

and  more  also,'   explanation 

of  this    oath,    55 ;    see     also 

Oaths. 
Goliath,  122  fir.,  149,  152,  301. 
Good,   'a   good  day'— a   feast 

day,  163. 
Grave,  see  Sheol. 


INDEX 


331 


Giiest-cliamber  ( ^  dining-hall  of 

iiigh  place),  82. 
Guilt-oftering  Cds/idni),  special 

sense  of,  63. 

Hachilah,  157,  169. 
Hadad  (=«Rimmon),  231. 
Hadad-e2er,  Hadar-ezer,  23of., 

239  f. 
Hamath,  231, 
Hannah,  36  ff.,  47;  — 's    Song, 

42fl: 
Hanun,  king  of  Ammon,  236  f. 
Harem,    members    of  David's, 

203,   215,    223,    244  ft:,    265. 

272,  292. 
Harvest,    barlej'.    299 ;    wheat 

94,  316  ff. 
Heart,  the  seat  of  intellect  and 

conscience    (less    frequentl3' 

in  prose,  of  emotion  ,  85,  159. 

167,  263,  316 ;    '  a  man  after 

his   (Yahweh's)  own    heart ' 

( -David),  99, 
Hebrews,  use  of  the  name,  58. 
Hebron,     162,     187  f.,     198  If., 

210  ff.,  263  f. 
Helkath-hazzurim,  201. 
Hereth,  the  forest  of,  151. 
High  place,  72,  79  ft*.,  85^,268, 

298  ;  sec  Gilgal, 
Hiram,  king  of  Tyre,  214. 
Histor}',  main   types   of,    9  ft'.  ; 

narrative    or   descriptive,    9, 

244  ;    didactic   or  pragmatic, 

9  I'.,  iioff.,  244  ff. 
Hittites,  169,  241. 
Holiness,  66  f..  148,  220;  holy 

God,  66  ;  holy  bread.   147  f.  ; 

contagion  of,  67.  147  f ,  220. 
Hojiiofotelcuton,    27  ;    examples 

of,  83,  37,  107,  243,  254  f. 
Hophni   and  Phinehas,  37,  51, 

58ff. 
Horeshah,  156  ff. 
Horn,  figuratively,  43,  45,  302. 
Hosts,  see  Lord  ;  God  of,  214. 


House,  in  various  significations; 
=  family,  descendants,  51, 
e.  g.  of  Saul,  222.  234  f.,  270. 
297,  see  'father's  house';-- 
a  succession,  a  dynasty,  see 
David,  '  Sure,'  Zadok  ;  —  a 
single  tribe,  especially  Judah, 
198  ff.,  &c.  ;  =a  group  of 
tribes,  Israel,  246,  269  f., 
Joseph,  287  :  =  the  whole 
people  as  'house  of  Israel.' 
68,  219,  221,  &c.;— Temple, 
sec  fJierc. 

Hundreds,  a  militarj'  term,  see 
Thousands. 

Hushai,  the  Archite,  268  ft'.; 
see  '  Friend.' 

Ichabod,  60.   loi. 

Ingathering,  sec  Feast. 

'Inheritance  of  God'  or  *of 
Yahweh  '  =  the  tribes  of  Is- 
rael, 29,83,  172,259,295,298. 

*  Inquire  of  the  Lord,'  significa- 
tion of  and  mode  of  pro- 
cedure, 151  f.,  154,  197  f-j 
272  ;  see  Ephod-oracle. 

Insignia  of  roj'^alty,  151,  170. 
T93j  254. 

Ira,  the  Jairite,  296. 

Ish-bosheth  --  Ish-baal,  name 
explained,  199  f. ;  204  ft'., 
209  ff. 

Ishvi  =  Ish-Yahweh,  109,  188. 

Israel,  passim  ;  the  people  of 
Yahweh,  95,  228 ;  the 
'people  of  God*  258  ;  their 
land  'Canaan;  as  Yahweh's 
land.T72,  259  ;  cf.  64.  land  of 
the  Ark. 

Ithra  'the  Israelite'  {reoci 
'  Ishmaelite  '\  277. 

Ittai,  the  Gittitc,  265 f,  278,  280. 

Jaare-oregim  (=  woods  of 
weavers),  a  corrupt  form, 
3or. 


332 


I   AND   II   SAMUEL 


Jabesh,    Jabesh-Gilead,    88  ff., 

190,  198,  299  f. 
Jashar,  book  of,  194  f. 
Jebus,    Jebusites,    212  ff.,   313, 

317/- 
Jeconiah,  66. 
Jedidiah,  248. 
Jehoshaphat,  the  recorder,  232, 

296. 
Jehovah,  recent  origin  of  this 

form   of    the    Divine    name, 

36  f.  ;  see  Lord,  Yahweh. 
Jerahmeelites,  175,  187. 
Jericho,  237. 
Jerub-besheth      (Jerub  -  baal), 

243. 

Jerusalem,  129,  230,  239  f., 
250,  260,  264  ff.,  268  f.,  288  f., 
292,  296,  315,  317  ;  cap- 
ture of,  212  ff.  ;  becomes 
David's  capital,  214  ;  re- 
ceives the  Ark,  217  ff. 

Jeshimon,  169. 

Jesse,  116  ff.,  123  f,,  130. 

Jezreel,  Jezreelitess,  168,  176, 
181,  183,  189,  199,  209. 

Joab,  1:69,  200 ff.,  232,  238  ff., 
248  ff.,    256  ff.,    277  ff.,    286, 

3Mf- 
Joel,  41,  73. 
Jonadab,  251,  255  f. 
Jonathanintroduced,  97;  looff., 

107  ff.,  130,  140  ff.,  188,  194, 

209,  234  f.,  298  ff. 
Jonathan,  son  of  Abiathar,  268f., 

275- 
Jordan,  98,  189,  239,  286  ff,,  315. 
Joseph,  see  House. 
Josephus  cited,   108,    189,  281. 
Josheb-basshebeth,     the     Tah- 

chemonite,  icad  '  Ish-baal  the 

Hachmonite,'  309. 
Josiah,  reformation  of,  52. 
Judah,  men  of  Judah,  90,  iir, 

121,  133,   151,   174  f.,   185  ff., 

198  ff,,  204,  285  ff. 
Judge,  48.  60,  67  ff.,  71  ff. 


'  Keeper  of  mine  head,'  176. 
Keilah,  154  ff. 
Kenites,  iii,  175,  187. 
Kidron,  265  f. 

King,  twofold  function  of,   76. 
'  King's  dale,'  the,  281. 
'King's  w^eight,'  after  the,  ex- 
plained, 261. 
Kiriath-jearim,  67f,,  217 ff.,  325. 
Kish,  77,  109,  300. 

Lament,  lamentation,  s^'^ Mourn- 
ing. 
Lamp,    53;    figuratively,    30T, 

304- 

Leaping  over  the  threshold,  a 
ritual  custom,  61. 

Levi,  tribe  of  Levites,  35,  49  f., 
65,  220,  266  f.  ;  —  the 
Levites  an  anachronism  in 
Samuel,  65,  267. 

Life  after  death,  secunder  Sheol. 

Living  after  death  in  one's  de- 
scendants, idea  of,  see  Name. 

Lo- debar,  234,  277. 

Lord,  rendering  of  Yahweh 
{which  see),  36 f. ;  of  Hosts  = 
Yahvv'eh  (God)  of  armies,  or 
of  the  heavenly  hosts,  36  f., 
39,  58,  no,  128,  214,  219, 
224,  228  ;  blessing  in  the 
name  of,  221  f.  ;  see  Name. 

Lords  of  the  Philistines,  57, 
62  ff.,  70,  181  f. 

Lot,  the  sacred,  87  ;  see  ephod- 
oracle,  Urim. 

Maacah,     237  f.  ;     mother     of 
Absalom,  203,  250. 
i    Machir,  234,  277. 
:    Mahanaim,    199  f.,    202,    277  f., 
I        281  f.,  289. 

Man  of  God,  anon3anons,  49. 
!    'Manner  of  the  king,'  87,  212; 
j        explained,  74  f. 
i    Maon,  156,  158,  162. 
i  Marriage,  early  Hebrew,  250  ff. 


INDEX 


333 


Measure  (- seah),  164. 

Mephibosheth  —  Meri  -  baal, 
sogf.,  234  ff.,  269  f..  288  f., 
298. 

Merab,  109,  133,  299. 

Messiah,  Messianic  hope,  Mes- 
sianic king,  43,  45,  223,  226  f. 

Mica,  236. 

Mice  (  =  small  rodents);  pro- 
pagatorsandsymbol  of  plague, 
631;,  66. 

Michal,  109.  131,  133  ff.,  137!"., 
168,  205,  221  ff.,  299. 

Michinash,  97  ff. 

Midrash,  edifying  expansions 
of  older  texts,  25,  116,  149. 

'  Mighty  men,  the  '  {gibboritn), 
238,  292  f. 

Milcom,  the  national  deity  of 
the  Ammonites,  172,  249. 

Millo,  214. 

Mizpah,  Mizpeh,  69  ff.,  74  f.,  86. 

Mizpeh  in  RIoab,  150  f, 

Moab,  Moabites,  108,  172.  229, 
231. 

Monarch3%  different  attitudes 
to  the,  15  ff.,  72  f.,  81. 

Monument  (Heb,  'hand').  112, 
281. 

Morality,  its  sanction  in  custom, 
252. 

Mourning  and  mourning  cus- 
toms, 59,  162,  190,  194,  196. 
208,  244,  253,  256,  268,  284, 
288. 

Mouth,  widening  of,  in  con- 
tempt, 43. 

'Mother  in  Israel,  a,'  295. 

Mule,  muleherd,  148,  254  f., 
279. 

Nabal,  156,  162  ff. 

Nahash,  king  of  Ammon,  88  f., 

93,  236,  277. 
Naioth  (in  Ramah),  138  f. 
'  Name,'  of  Yahwnh,  219,  221  f., 

226;  one's  nam<;,  as  continued 


in  one's  posterity,  142  (of 
Jonathan)  ;  162  (of  Saul)  ; 
227  (of  David) ;  258  ;  to  call 
one's  name  over  something 
in  token  of  ownership,  219, 
249. 

Nathan,  223  ff.,  244  ff. 

Necromancy,  see  Witchcraft. 

Negeb,  several  districts  so 
named,  175,  184,  232. 

New  Moon,  festival  of  140,  143. 

Nob,  51,  146,  151  ff. 

Numbers,  continual  uncertainty 
of,  66,  90,  96 f..  Ill,  210,  230, 
237,  240,  263,  315  f. 

Oaths,  55,  107  f.,  140,  142, 
165  f.,  258,  260,  298,  &c.  ; 
double  oath  by  the  life  of 
Yahvveh  and  the  life  of  the 
person  or  persons  addressed, 
140,  166, 

Obed-edom,  the  Gittite,  220  f. 

Offerings,  burnt,  peace,  see 
Sacrifice,  Guilt. 

Officers  of  state,  David's,  232, 
247,  266  f.,  296 ;  see  Servants. 

Olives,  Mount  of,  266;  sanc- 
tuary upon  the  top  of,  268. 

Omens,  64,  102,  115,  217. 

Oracle,  see  Ephod. 

Orders  of  knighthood.  David's, 
308  ff. ;  sec  Three,  Thirty. 

Oriental  courtesy  and  etiquette, 
165.  289,  318, 

Palestina,   origin  of  the  name, 

57- 
Palti,  Paltiel,  168,  205. 
Parable  of  the  ewe-lamb,  245  f. 
Parallelism  of  Hebrew  poetry, 

43  f.,  113  f.,  195  ff.,  208,  307. 
Paran,  wilderness  of,  162. 
Pas-dammim,    see    Ephes-dam- 

mim. 
Pelethites  (Plethi),  see  Chercth- 

itcs. 


334 


I   AND    II   SAMUEL 


Peniiinah  (^ Coral),  36,  38. 
Perez-Uzzah,  320. 
Philistia,  57. 

Philistines,  56  ff.,  68  ff.,  80, 
97  ff.,  120  ff.,  154  i.,   173  ff., 

177  ff.,  205,  315  ff.,  229,  285, 
299  ff-j  309  ff'  ;  origin  and 
organization  of,  56. 

Phinehas  (of  Egyptian  origin 
—  the  dark-skinned  one),  see 
Hophni. 

Plague,  among  the  Philistines, 
62  ff.  ;  among  the  Israelites, 
316  ff. 

Plain,  way  of  the,  282. 

Prayer,  39,  69,  73,  95;  O.  T. 
attitudes  in,  39,  237. 

Precedent  Cin  Hebrew  juris- 
prudence), 186. 

'  Presence '  (  —  Face)  of  Yah  weh, 
323  ff.  ;  of  royalty,  274,  325. 

Priesthood,  Priests,  dues  of,  46, 
50,  53  ;  duties  of,  49,  153  ; 
Jerusalem,  51,  see  Zadok; 
not  confined  to  tribe  of  Levi, 
35,  321  f.,  233,  396  ;  of  local 
sanctuaries,  52  ;  united  with 
the  kinghood,  222  ;  see  also. 
Blessing,  Levi. 

Prophetic  ecstasy,  84  ff.,  139. 

Prophets,    49,    56,    79,    84   ff., 

178  f.  223  ff;  relation  of,  to 
the  seer,  79  ;  'schools*  of  the, 
138  ;  the  *  former  prophets  '  - 
the  historical  books,  3,  7,  12. 

Rabbah  of  Amnion,  237  ff.,  248f., 

377. 
Rachel's  sepulchre,  83. 
Raraah,  35,  40,  45,  72  ff.,  115, 

1 18, 138  f  ,162,  177  ;  — 'on  the 

height,'  151. 
Ramathaim-Zophim,  35. 
Rampart  (second  wall),  294. 
Rechab,  see  Baauah. 
Recorder    {maskir),    nature   of 

the  office,  332,  296. 


*  Renew  the  kingdom,'  ex- 
plained, gr. 

Rephaim  (-giants^,  300  ff. ; 
valley  of,  215  ff,,  310. 

Resurrection,  probably  hinted 
at,  44. 

'  Return  of  the  year,'  240 ;  cf  40. 

Revelation,  54,  80,  140,  178  f.  ; 
— three  channels  of  Divine, 
178;  progressivenessinO.T., 
29,  314 ;  see  also  under  Texts. 

River,  the  (in  R.  V.  =the  Eu- 
phrates), 230,  239. 

Rizpah,  204,  298  f. 

Rock,     figuratively,    43,    302, 

305  ff. 
Runners,  75,  152,  362. 

Sacrifice,  36  ff.,  46,  65,  70,  98, 
141,144,  171  f.,  221,  264,3x9. 

Sacrificialfeast  or  meal,38f.,  82. 

Salt,  valley  of,  331. 

Samuel,  the  name,  40  ;  call  of, 
53  ff.  ;  the  theocratic  Judge, 
67  ff.  ;  as  head  of  a  '  school 
of  the  prophets,'  138  f.  ; 
anoints  Saul,  83;  David,  118  ; 
death  and  burial,  162,  176  ; 
called  up,  178  ff . ;  Book  or 
Booksof,contents,6;  editions, 
24  f.  ;  sources,  13  ff. ,  and 
passim ;  historical  value,  28 ff. ; 
Greek  text  of,  26  f. 

Sanctify',  see  consecrate  ;  '  sanc- 
tify' one's  self  for  worship, 
117  ;  see  also  '  ceremonial 
purity.' 

Sanctuary,  see  High  place. 
Temple. 

Satan,  314  ;  see  Adversary. 

Saul,  introduced,  77  ff.  ;  an- 
ointed, 83;  rejected,  99, 
112  ff.,  297  ff.  ;  his  jealousy 
and  pursuit  of  David,  133- 
173  ;  Saul  ajid  the  Gibeonites, 
209,  297  ff.,  326  ;  at  Endor, 
i78ff.;  his  death,  188  ff. 


INDEX 


335 


Scribe,  David's,  332,  296. 
Sebaotii  (  —  Hosts),  Lord  of,  see 

Lord,  Yahweh. 
Seer,  79  ft'.,  267. 
Sela-hamir.ahlekoth,  158. 
Septuagint,26f.,  andpassim',  sic 

especially',  120  ff. 
Seraiah,  various  forms  of  name. 

232. 
Servants  =  high   court  officials, 

76,  119,  131, 134  ff.,  151,  230, 

264  f..  317. 
Shammah,  son  of  Agee,  310. 
Sheba,  revolt  of,  291  fi'. 
Sheepshearing,  feast  of,  162  f., 

254. 
Shekel,  79,  122,  261,  280,  300. 

318. 
Sheol,  44,  179  f.,  248,  299,  303. 
Shepherd  of  his  people,  figure 

for  the  king,  212,  224. 
Sheva,  the  scribe,  296. 
Shewbread,  holy  bread,  147. 
Sliiloh,    36  ft".,   46,    56   fl'.,  67. 

82,  146. 
Shimei,  the  son  of  Gera,  270  f . 

286  ff. 
Shunem,  177. 

•  Singing     men     and      singing 

women,'  290. 

•  Sit  (to)  before  the  Lord,'  the 

attitude   explained,   227  ;   cf. 

Prayer. 
Socoh,  121. 

Sojourner,  Stranger,  see  Get. 
Solidarity  of  the  tribes  of  Judali 

and  Israel,  24. 
Solomon,  153,  215,  248. 
'  Song  of  the  bow  '  erroneous 

title  of  David's  elegy,  194  f. 
South,  see  Negeb. 
Spear,  see  Insignia  (of  royalty";. 
Spirit    of    Yahweh,    85,     118; 

evil,     from    Yahweh,    ii8f., 

132. 
'Strang'j  gods,'  69. 
'Strength  of  Israel/  a-^. 


Suicide,  rarity  of,  in  O.  T.,  189, 

277. 
Summaries     ^editorial),    108  f., 

203,  215,  229  ff.,  296. 
Summer    fruits    ( =-  fresh    figs  , 

269. 
*  Sure  (a)  house, 'permanence of 

dynasty,  royal,    166,   225  ff.  ; 

and    priestly,    51,    225  ;    see 

also  House. 
'  Sweet  Psalmist  of  Israel,'  307. 
Syrians,    Syria,    2301%    236  ff., 

263. 

Tabernacle,  see  Tent. 

Tabernacles,  feast  of,  see  Feast. 

Taboos  (food)  lo.^  f.,  107  ; 
sexual,  148,  241  f. 

'  Tahtim-hodshi,  land  of  (cor- 
rupt text),  315. 

Taken,  '  to  be  taken,'  technical 
sense  of,  87,  107. 

Talent  (of  gold),  249. 

Talmai,  king  of  Geshur,  see 
Geshur. 

Tamar,  sister  of  Absalom.  250  ff. ; 
his  daughter,  261. 

Tekoa,  257  f, 

Temple,  of  Astarte,  189  ;  —  at 
Jerusalem,  52,  223,  226,  303  ; 
at  Shiloh,  37,  53  ;  of  Dagon, 
6r  f.,  189  ;  war  trophies  in, 
61,  149,  189. 

Tent,  to  one's  tent  =  to  one's 
home,  explained,  285 ;  97, 
281,  292,  296. 

Tent  of  Meeting,  37,  42,  47  f., 
53,  224 ;  for  Ark,  221, 
224,  227  ;  242  (a  booth) ; 
called  'house  of  Yahweh,' 
247. 

Teraphim,  114,   137  f. 

Texts,  intentionally  altered  or 
omitted  for  theological  or 
moral  reasons,  35,  60,  65, 
103,  216,228  f.,  233,  236,  245, 
247,  267,  iSiC  ;   unintentional 


336 


I   AND   II   SAMUEL 


omissions    and     alterations, 
passim ;  see  Homocotcleuton. 

Tlieocracy,     theocratic     ideal, 

ruler,  &c.,    i6f.,  24,  28,  67, 

7 1  ff.,  94  f-,  99- 
Thirty,  Order  of  the,  308,  310, 

312  f. 
Thousand,    technical   sense  of, 

75,  124,  132,  i5i»  158,  278. 
Three,  the  Order  of  the,  308  if. 
Threshing-floor    of     Araunah, 

313'  317  f- 
Tithes,  76. 

Tob,  237  f. 

Toi,  king  of  Hamath,  231. 

Torture,  punishment  by,  249  f. 

Tribute  (  =  forced  labour,  cor- 
vee), 296. 

Trophies,  military,  in  sanctu- 
aries, 61,  149- 

Tumours,  62  ff.,  66. 

Tyre,  214,  315. 

Uriah,  the  Hittite,  241  ff.,  264, 

313' 
Urim    and    Thummim,     106  f., 

154,  178. 
Uzzah,  219  f. 

Vow,  39,  41,  263. 

Wagons,  place  of  the,  124,  169  f. 
War,     consecration      for,     see 
Consecration. 


War-taboos,  99,   infj  241  f.; 

cf.  Taboos. 
Watches  (night),  90. 
Water  in  ritual,  70  ;  cf.  310. 
Weaning,  age  of  child,  41. 
Weaver's  beam  explained,  123. 
Witch,       witchcraft,       wizard, 

113  f.,  176  ff. 
Women  in  the  cultus,  38. 
Worship,  36  ff.,  38  f.,  iAoL\see 

<  Detained,'  Sacrifice. 

Yahweh,form  andsignificanceof 
the  name,  36  f. ;  not  put  into 
the  mouth  of  non- Israelites, 
58 ;  the  national  God  of 
Israel,  as  Chemosh  of  Moab, 
&c.,  171  f.,  228;  see  further 
under  *  LoRD,'also,  Covenant, 
Israel  ;  replaced  by  Satan  in 
Chronicles,  314 ;  s^^  also  Oath. 

Zadok,  51,  232  f.,  266  ff.,  285  f., 

296. 
Zadokite  priesthood,  5if.,  225, 

267. 
Zeruiah,  sons  of,   170,  209;  see 

Abishai,  Joab. 
Ziba,  234ff-j  269  f.,  287  ff. 
Zidon,  315. 

Ziklag,  174,  182  ff.,  211. 
Zion,  2i3f.,  265,  267. 
Ziph,  Ziphites,  i56ff.,  168  ff. 
Zobah,  108,  230  f.,  237  f. 
Zuph,  Zuphite,  35  f-.  78. 


A 


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DATE  DUE 


